Justice committee  Mr. Lee, I learned one hard lesson early in my legal career.

Justice committee  No, when a client comes in and asks me a question that I haven't considered, I don't give an answer.

Justice committee  A fair characterization is that the witness who is sitting in front of you has never considered the question before this point in time, Mr. Chairman.

Justice committee  I think I can answer that question, Mr. Lee. The Supreme Court of Canada indicated that at the end of the day, the commission's conclusions are not necessarily binding unless provided for by statute—that is, by decision of Parliament itself. I think all parties here, Professor G

Justice committee  The Canadian Bar Association echoes the comment that you make, Mr. Comartin. Happily, we are getting good appointments. We would fundamentally echo your concerns that an erosion in the process incrementally can erode that particular outcome. The Canadian Bar Association does no

Justice committee  The Canadian Bar Association is here neither to condemn nor to support a particular allocation of a particular decimal point or dollars and cents. So at the end of the day, the Supreme Court has affirmed that, if adequately explained, the government can choose its allocation of r

Justice committee  I repeat back to the honourable member what I just said.

Justice committee  It's completely clear from the commission report that, first of all, they cast around very broadly, with the assistance of the government and the other parties that appeared in front of the commission, for as much information as they had with respect to salaries. Many of us app

Justice committee  Let me just say one other thing, Mr. Batters.

Justice committee  I'll be very quick, Mr. Chairman. With respect to Mr. Batters, the commission also, interestingly, rejected a joint submission that was made by both government and judges for an annual $2,000-a-year increase, all with a view to try to get it right. Again, the Canadian Bar Asso

Justice committee  I think Professor Garant can do as fine a job as I can in taking you back, but I would invite the honourable member to review the Supreme Court's rather eloquent explanation of this in the Bodner decision.

Justice committee  Our democratic system is dependent upon the courts as the guardian of our Constitution, and that's what separates Canada and other western democracies and other free and democratic societies from autocratic societies.

Justice committee  It's implicit in a variety of provisions of the Constitution, including the provisions that deal with the appointment and tenure of judges.

Justice committee  That's why the Supreme Court of Canada said two very important things. They said yes, fundamentally, the allocation of public resources rests with the Parliament of Canada. But--and there is a “but” attached to that, as a “but” attaches to very many other aspects of the supremacy

Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Batters. As another prairie boy, I'll try it, because I think in some respects I understand very well where you come from. Let me start by indicating, as you will know from the brief that the Canadian Bar Association has filed, that we observed that the government