Mr. Chairman, I am very pleased to welcome our witnesses to the Committee. I am particularly pleased to see Professor Garant here. Unlike my colleague, I did not have the pleasure of directly benefiting from his teaching. However, I am sure that he is a very dynamic professor and is greatly appreciated by his students.
Professor, I would like to explore two questions with you.
The Commission does exist and, of course, we have to deal with that reality. We cannot simply ignore it. However, I was a little disappointed with the group that appeared before the Committee. The fact is, we do need to have comparators. Judges must be compensated. We want them to be well compensated, to be free from corruption or the vagaries of politics, and to enjoy tenure, except in cases of improper conduct. And of course, we also want them to be impartial.
I could go so far as to ask you how much a law professor earns in his best earning years, but instead, I will show restraint, unless you yourself are prepared to lift the veil on that matter. You state in your brief that within the legal profession, lawyers who make a good living earn approximately $150,000. And I liked your comparison with Level 3 and 4 deputy ministers.
But, in order to set appropriate compensation for judges, what kind of base of comparison are you suggesting? How much does a Level 3 or 4 deputy minister with the federal government earn? And finally, if you could also answer the following question, I would like to know what you see as the qualifications for being both a good judge and a good deputy minister.