Thank you very much for your presentation, Dr. Zussman.
I wanted to ask you about the Public Appointments Commission. You correctly underlined the fact that there is no formal system in place with a whole infrastructure at this time at the federal level, while in some provinces they do have an infrastructure in place for those kinds of appointments. So do you think that having some form of formal infrastructure, with clearly defined mandate, rules, authorities, etc., is a good thing?
Now, given the Prime Minister's reaction when his personally picked choice for appointment as chair was not supported by a committee...he decided he's not going to implement a formal system. Many of us believe this is a good thing. Since I came in, in 1997, I tried to convince the previous government, and now I'm trying to convince the current government, to put it in place.
We already have a similar system in place for the public service. Under the Public Service Employment Act, the Public Service Commission has that authority, which it normally delegates out to the various departments, and then exercises the oversight mechanism and audit function.
What would you think if, through Bill C-2, the Public Service Employment Act was amended to provide that the chair and the vice-chairs of the Public Service Commission also have the responsibility and duty to set this system in place, so that, for instance, the IRB would develop its criteria selection? A public, transparent selection process, etc., would identify the qualified candidates, and the Public Service Commission would then conduct audits to ensure that the appointments process was open, transparent, fair, and based on merit. What would you think if that was done through amendments to the act?