Thank you, Madam Chair.
I found some of the comments tonight very interesting. Mr. Lukiwski was seeking out the positions of the various parties. I don't have a position. I don't know what the position of the Liberal Party is. I'm here--and this is our first witness--to listen to the various stakeholders who have come before us, and then I will take a position.
On Madame Guay's criticisms of the Senate, quite frankly I've heard those same criticisms levelled against members of the House of Commons. Perhaps it's a lack of understanding or perhaps an ignorance of the responsibilities and functions of the Senate. I hope we'll be hearing from some senators to address that problem.
Minister, you indicated you had two legal opinions from two of your former law professors. I hope you would file these with the committee. Perhaps we could also hear from them as witnesses.
Getting back to the nuts and bolts of how this might work, when would you propose that an election would be in fact called? If it's going to be fixed terms--whenever it's decided what those would terms be--would it be at the beginning of the year, on June 30 of a year? Do you have any thoughts on that?