Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
First of all, I'd like to congratulate Mr. Matte and his two colleagues here this morning on the quality of the document we have received. I had time to skim through it and I must say it appears to provide exactly the explanations we wanted of the operation of the Court Challenges Program, its structure and the need for it in the broader context of a healthy democratic society. I'd like to thank you for the quality of this document and I hope my colleagues will think to ensure that it's included in a report to the House, because it would benefit all parliamentarians to read it.
I'm going to ask three short questions in order to clarify certain things once and for all.
When the Prime Minister and one of his ministers stated their reasons in the House for cancelling the Court Challenges Program, they said they were sick and tired of paying for Liberal lawyers. When asked whether the political affiliation of the lawyer they chose was a factor, every witness has said no.
That's also what you seem to be saying in your brief, but could you confirm that the lawyers' political affiliation was in no way a factor as far as the Court Challenges Program was concerned?