Thank you.
My response would be that the fact that past governments have made changes reflects again what is wrong with the current system. These were unilateral changes: Parliament was not consulted; the public was not consulted. The minister presumably consulted some members of his party, perhaps some members of his office, but it was a process completely lacking in transparency.
I would not be upset if the government were merely implementing a short-term government policy—after all, that's one of the prerogatives of government—but they're not. When we're talking about judicial appointments, we're talking about an appointment until the age of 75. Judges are not appointed in order to implement the policies of a particular government; they are appointed as chief justices. It's emphasized repeatedly that they're there to apply and implement the law of the land—not just the law of the last three years, but the law going back to the earliest days of Confederation.
The judges have much broader terms of reference. They represent, if you will, the totality of the Canadian legal system, which is why, among many other reasons, I think it's completely incompatible for a government to make unilateral changes merely to implement its own policies. It's incompatible with our concept of an independent judiciary, one whose appointments should be based on objective criteria as far as that is possible.
I hope that answers your question.