I think there's a verbal misunderstanding here, Mr. Chair, about what we mean by screening and what we mean by a true advisory function.
By screening, we mean that the committee's current terms of reference are meant to tell the government whether or not candidate A is recommended, highly recommended, or there are no recommendations. It doesn't go beyond that. It's not a question of the depth of the committee's investigation or even of the committee's competence to make an evaluation.
The question is what happens when the committees have made their evaluation? What I say, and what many of my colleagues say, is that the government is given complete discretion in deciding which of the people who have been assessed as being qualified for appointment should be appointed. I say that's a highly subjective exercise, which is often influenced not by questions of merit but by questions of partisan and political considerations. And there is a great deal of evidence to support these allegations.
Let me remind the committee that every year the advisory committees review several hundred applications, at least 200 a year, and probably more, but there are only 50 appointments. That means that in every case the government, when it wants to fill a vacancy, has a great deal of discretion. How does the government go about exercising that? We don't know, and the governments have never told us. This is not a matter of partisanship. It's a matter of record, but what is also record is that in many instances selections are based on political and partisan considerations and have very little to do with the merits of particular candidates.