Mr. Keyserlingk, thank you and welcome. First, thank you for having inspired Bills C-25 and C-11. The entire legislative process which was created to provide protection for public servants comes from you in your capacity as Public Service Integrity Officer. Thank you also for the seven proposed amendments; I believe they are important.
With all due respect to the witnesses we heard from earlier and to those we will hear in the future, I would say that you are probably the person who has been most directly involved in this bill. That is why your amendments will surely be relevant.
I will read a passage from your presentation and will then ask you several questions. You say:
In addition, the establishment of a Public Appointments Commissioner, to establish rules and standards for open competitions and processes [...] will be free of conflicts of interest, partisanship or patronage, is another positive feature of Bill C-2 [...]
The Prime Minister, in Bill C-2, proposes the creation of the position of Public Appointments Commissioner. While we were debating, the government decided to create this position immediately, with the probable expectation that corrections or amendments would be made in committee. Therefore, it would be possible to immediately apply certain provisions of the bill and then to make changes once Bill C-2 is promulgated.
I would like to know what you think about the request made by 11 unions representing nearly 100,000 public servants — and perhaps what you think about your request to go back into retirement — and about the immediate application of Bill C-11. In your view, would it be heretical to support the immediate promulgation of Bill C-11, which dates back to the previous session, and then to make any amendments to the legislation through Bill C-2? Does that create too many problems?