Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I have to say that I was a lawyer as well. I still am, I guess, as I'm told by the law society.
I notice that you were called to the bar in 1997. I was called in 1993, but I've been doing this for 10 years. Up until 2004, when I was elected, I had never seen anybody throw money that doesn't belong to them at others—like judges. What I mean is, in support cases, or when there's a determination of civil issues, judges, I found, would very easily throw money that didn't belong to them—money that belonged to the other party—at the aggrieved party. I will say that since that time I have changed my mind, because I've never seen anybody try to solve problems with money more than governments do.
I agree with the last speaker in what he said, which is that when governments run into problems, they throw money at the issue because it's easier than to deal with the bad press. It's a tough choice for a government to take the public service and say, listen, we have an issue, so let's take it back and let's look at the issue.
I see you agreeing with me, Ms. Blais.
What I'm getting at on this is that I'm one of those few people who actually thinks that crown prosecutors are not paid enough. In fact, in Fort McMurray, in my first year at the bar, I made double the money of the other crown prosecutors who had 10 years at the bar. Stats told me that. I looked at it and said there was no way I was going to be a public prosecutor, because they make $85,000 a year in Fort McMurray and you can't even live for that there.
Would you agree that statistics don't tell untruths generally?