Mr. Chair, thank you very much for the opportunity.
Maybe just to cover some of the remarks made by Mr. Telegdi, I find it interesting that he's interested in speeding up the process to keep criminals out. You would have thought it might be to allow appropriate claimants to be in. Obviously his party would not be the first and foremost one concerned and interested in that aspect of it.
With respect to the Vietnamese question, he had an opportunity, his government had an opportunity to do it...had a good number of years...failed to.... We've taken steps to ensure those remaining Vietnamese can come in through humanitarian and compassionate grounds. Certainly a solution is being found.
With respect to the new appointment process, it will be more efficient; it will produce people to fill the positions. When those positions are filled, I think they will be adequately worked forward. The report, actually, that we have from the appointments commission sends a higher standard, not a lower standard, in terms of accountability, transparency, and credibility. It's open. It's transparent. That's why the report was commissioned.
For the first time, all appointees will be required to pass a written exam. That's not the case under the previous system. We're taking a balanced approach to allowing the chair and the minister to appoint members, and to having the people go through one body as opposed to two bodies, which will streamline that. We've undertaken a national search for qualified candidates. We're committing to holding regular recruitment campaigns. It's interesting that Mr. Sandhu was able to partake of that.
The process for filling the vacancies is well under way and it will be completed before long. We will move rapidly and will have a well-functioning IRB board.