Well, I think the real question that comes out of it is this. How do you want to do it? What sort of procedure do you want?
As I say, in Britain, most of these appointments are made by ministers, they're ministerial appointments. In Canada, they're Governor in Council. We have a more centralized structure in Canada, and have had since day one. It's part of the need to recognize the diversity in the regions, languages, and so on, in Canada. Whatever we would do would be different. But for the procedure in Britain, if you're going to go through something like this, a committee is set up. An assessor, appointed by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments, sits on the committee and makes sure it adheres to the rules. The committee then makes a recommendation of three qualified persons, and the minister chooses from those three.
The concern of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Appointments is not that non-partisan people are appointed, but that every appointment meet the criteria of merit, due process, equity, and diversity, and that the end result be one that meets those general standards. The process itself is open and transparent. But I would think that for a lot of these, it would be unreasonable to expect the government or an individual minister to not want to appoint somebody whom he or she likes and wants in the office.