It's very nice to hear words from the government supporting judges in a period when I think they're very much under attack from this government in terms of pay scales and so on. But let's talk about the legislation, and not motives.
Well, I'll talk about motives for a moment, to say that this is clearly targeted against Mr. Shapiro. It's more important from the legislative point of view. It narrows the field from which a perfect candidate might be found, because it talks about former judges and former members of tribunals who have fairly arcane and specific experience. The pool would be very narrow.
I think it would be best to delineate what we would be looking for--maybe another amendment might come forward--but not preclude it to a former judge or a former member of a tribunal.
So in that instance, I very much support the Bloc amendment and look forward to something that's a little more small “c” catholic, if you like, in terms of getting the right appointee.
Thank you.