Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, when we look at vacancies within the department, the department has roughly 400 employees. Our vacancy is roughly, and it varies from day to day, but roughly 60 vacant positions. Some of them are full-time vacancies, roughly half, 30 to 32. At any given time, you will find that many vacancies in a department. The others are seasonal. That can vary considerably.
In May, we had 32 seasonal vacancies and 34 full-time vacant positions. That varies. I do not think we have 32 seasonals anymore, given the fire programs and so on. Over any period of time, we have roughly eight or nine percent vacancy out of 421 full-time employees. Even that does not give us the flexibility to be able to fund all of our casual salaries from any savings that might result form vacancies. There has been a need, because of workload, to meet our mandate, and also things like student employment. There has been a need for additional money to be allocated to casual wages. Thank you.