Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Kurland, it's always a pleasure to see you, even though I don't always agree with what you say. It's always generally good advice.
You indicated that you had read some of the testimony of previous witnesses. We had a young lawyer from the Canadian Bar Association here recently. His position was to get rid of all the consultants, which, quite frankly, I find rather self-serving for lawyers. I'm not so sure we should get rid of all the consultants. From the testimony that we've heard to date, the question is, are they properly educated? Are they charging too much? Are they giving proper advice? Are they competent? Those are some of the things we've talked about.
I'd like to hear your comments. I like your idea that perhaps these issues should go to the department, and I like your idea of allocating resources from other groups to deal with this. My view is that it is just as with lawyers—if someone doesn't like a lawyer's fee, there is a way to go after that lawyer. Lawyers are well educated, and paralegals are reasonably well educated, although I think lawyers don't like them either.
I'd like to hear some of your comments about whether we should continue with the process of having consultants.