First, on the issue of the legal opinions, it's not I who went to these former professors of mine; they just coincidentally happened to be that. These are opinions that were derived before I was even minister responsible for this file, under my predecessor, Minister Nicholson, who is now, of course, Minister of Justice.
On the question of when the elections would occur--“consultations” is a more accurate description--that's set out in the bill. It would be a decision of the Governor in Council when a consultation would occur.
There are two options available. One is during federal general elections and the other is during a provincial election, provided there is notice posted in the Canada Gazette at least six months before that actual election event takes place. We don't have fixed dates; that involves a bit of speculation. But in the increasing situations where you have fixed dates, that's quite easy to deal with.
The number of spots you would elect would be up to the Governor in Council as well. The notion isn't that you would wait until there was a vacancy and then hold an election, but rather that you could hold an election for a number of seats that would create a list that would await appointment by the Governor in Council when vacancies arose. So there might already be some vacancies, but you also might elect three, four, or five members, or you might have them selected as nominees for appointment in anticipation of the vacancies that would arise in the next year or two, or, say, until the next potential general election event in that province or federally.
That format ensures that elections happen, or when they're going to be happening anyway. You have an electoral vehicle in place. You have a certain saving and minimization of costs in carrying out the consultation. The consultation can ensure that you have adequate representation on a go-forward basis in the Senate.