Mr. Chair, I sit here with great disappointment in my colleagues.
As a person from the province of Saskatchewan, I have known Mr. Hermanson over the years. I have known his personal service to his province, to the people of Saskatchewan, to the agricultural community. I know what he did while he was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, and the partisanship I see going on today almost breaks my heart.
I think that being involved in political life doesn't mean that you cannot uphold your pledge when you take a position. When I retire from this place, I hope that just because I served the people of my province, and those people put me in and gave me the privilege of serving here, I will not be taken to task by a group of people saying I'm not qualified to hold this position.
I'm very pleased that Mr. Hermanson applied for the position and received the position that he did receive. He's very well respected in our province. And it gives me great disappointment, because over the years, sitting across from Mr. Easter, Mr. Boshcoff, and Mr. St. Amand when they were in the government of this country, I saw people appointed who I maybe would have called at that time political appointments.
I find this a really partisan position. I really think Mr. Hermanson is a very credible appointment and I believe we should be supporting him totally.