Back in February 2006, children and family development assistant deputy minister Jeremy Berland accepted a two-year, government-bankrolled secondment to the University of Victoria. At the time, Mr. Berland announced he would be "working closely with the Ministry on a number of child welfare related projects, so expect to be seeing and talking with many of you over the next few months." But it seems that secondment has wrapped up a bit early. On Tuesday, attorney general bureaucrats were informed Mr. Berland would be joining the ministry as the executive lead of special projects. Fancy that!