Government Operations committee  The regulation stipulates, when people submit their application, that we have 30 days. This allows us to analyze the application, which we do on a case-by-case basis, and to receive comments from the departments concerned, to determine to what extent this affects their operations.

Government Operations committee  That depends. There are all sorts of cases. There may be some cases where people are not remunerated. But in general, people have 30 days to submit their application to us. Then we decide, given the circumstances of that particular case, whether the person should take leave without pay or not.

Government Operations committee  There are always rules. As I said earlier, each case is studied individually. The circumstances depend on the individual's profile and also on the municipality in question. In some larger municipalities, to all intents and purposes, it is impossible to do both because the duties of municipal councillors or mayor constitutes a full-time job.

Government Operations committee  The act is very clear in that respect: once elected, a person is no longer a public servant.

Government Operations committee  No, certainly not.

Government Operations committee  We are basically saying that these people should have been entitled to what we call an administrative priority, which is a priority over others for getting positions in the public service. Now, to get these people around the priority, positions were created that they could immediately occupy.

Government Operations committee  Principles of privacy and protection of personal information.

Government Operations committee  The language requirements must still be met, having regard to the requirements of the position. To answer your question, yes, that will remain. You also mentioned that supervisors and employees must be able to work in the language of their choice. In view of the fact that these are principles guaranteed under the Official Languages Act, that will not change.

Government Operations committee  With regard to casual workers, the possibility you mention exists. If these people are used in the proper way, in other words for periods of up to 90 days within the year, then all the better. It is a way of responding to immediate needs. If, however, people take advantage of this opportunity to circumvent all the requirements pertaining to entry into the public service, including the merit principle, then there is a problem, one that we have already brought up.

Government Operations committee  Further to what has been said, we are indeed still in a transition period. There is a new act in place, as you know. The departments are, however, very much aware of our concerns. We have mentioned three in the area of human resource planning and, if they forget, we are here to remind them and this is what we do on a regular basis.

Government Operations committee  Just on the last point made by the President, we track positions where standards are not being met. After an incumbent has occupied a bilingual position for two years, an exemption must be requested. Some cases have been resolved. Of the 600 cases reported last year, 200 or 300 have now been resolved.

Government Operations committee  Absolutely. I would just like to come back to the matter of senior executives who are at levels 4 and 5...

Government Operations committee  Yes. People must be bilingual in order to access these positions, except where the positions are staffed through an external process, but they are in the minority. As for level 1 and 3 positions, as a general rule, incumbents are required to be bilingual, except in certain places.

Government Operations committee  To add to what the president just said, it's also interesting to note that in addition to the efforts we make in terms of having overarching policies that deal with employment equity and so on--talking to the department, having conferences, making sure that all the tools are available to departments--the new legislation, the new Public Service Employment Act, in its preamble made the reference to--I don't have the exact words here--the importance, of course, of having a public service that represents very well the Canadian population.