Madam Chair, through you, to Mr. Kmiec, I thank him for the question.
Thank you for your thoughtful presentation as well, Mr. Kmiec, at second reading of the legislation.
Obviously, I'm not going to discuss what options I laid out before cabinet because that would be inappropriate, but it shouldn't surprise colleagues that we were looking for a way to ensure that the representation in the province of Quebec did not diminish. We were conscious of the need not to proceed in a way that would trigger, potentially, a constitutional-amending formula, which is seven provinces out of 10 representing 50% of the population.
Some options that were suggested, in the view of legal advisers, would have triggered that formula, so we thought this was in fact the only surgical, simple way to preserve the number of seats in the House of Commons in the last Parliament.