Thank you very much for your question. You're absolutely right. This legislation does honour a commitment that we made, which released them from the issue around making the mandatory long-form census voluntary, which compromised the quality of data and which brought this issue to light in the public domain.
We honoured that commitment by reintroducing the mandatory long-form census on day one. This is to continue on that path to reinforce what existed in convention, the independence of Statistics Canada. I'm really delighted to hear that the Statistical Society of Canada was supportive. Obviously they were engaged. We had a robust engagement process, an outreach process through which we engaged many stakeholders, because, again, we wanted to be very thoughtful and deliberate about how we approached this legislation and we wanted to find that right balance.
Clearly, some of the comments they made around the search criteria for the chief statistician are important. This is a very important and prestigious position, and we want somebody who is really qualified. That is why, as you mentioned, we are proposing a Governor in Council process, which is going to be merit-based, open, and transparent.
I can tell you right now the fact that we reintroduced the mandatory long-form census and the fact that we're bringing forth legislation to strengthen the independence of Statistics Canada have really positioned this organization in a much more positive light. There is a great deal of excitement around this organization going forward and there will be a lot of interest from very highly qualified individuals from around the world who would want to take on this role. We're very confident that a Governor in Council appointment, which will be very open and transparent, will attract the best and brightest to be part of that process to apply. We think that is good for the organization, and I'm confident that we will have somebody very capable going forward as well.
On the advisory council, as you know, that's going to be again a Governor in Council process as well. So, for anyone who expresses an interest we would—