Yes, in fact, I could.
Mr. Chair, the member is quite right that the initial decision—the P.E.I. judges' reference case—was much more restrictive than the second case that came out, which is the Bodner decision, and which I also referred to. We as lawyers sometimes get caught up here in Parliament and don't watch what is happening actually in the courts. I was myself familiar with the P.E.I. case, and when the department briefed me on the Bodner decision, it gave an entirely different light to the entire situation.
It is wrong—indeed, I would suggest, misleading—that modification of a commission recommendation undermines the commission process as established by the Supreme Court of Canada. In Bodner v. Alberta the court clearly acknowledged that decisions about allocations of public resources belong to the legislatures and to government.
Governments are entitled to reject or modify commission recommendations provided—and again I want to go to the principles, because they are very important principles and broaden the P.E.I. reference case—firstly, they have articulated a legitimate reason for doing so; secondly, the government's reasons rely upon a reasonable factual foundation; thirdly, it can be shown that, viewed globally and with deference to the government's opinion, the commission process has been respected and the purposes of the commission, namely preserving judicial independence and depoliticizing the setting of judicial remuneration, have been achieved.
Those are the three principles that expand the original P.E.I. reference case. It's only normal that the court would further refine a very unique decision, when it came out in the P.E.I. reference case. The court has done that in Bodner, and I thought in a very admirable and exemplary way, as we have come to expect from our Supreme Court of Canada.