Good afternoon, Mr. Ménard.
First of all, before I get out my scissors and my paring knife, I wanted to congratulate the member for bringing the bill forward. He's done a really good job of attempting to codify the sought-after balance between the rights of the individual, the interests of the state, and the freedom of the press. The freedom of the press is a fundamental plank of our democracy, as it is in most democracies. The House has already accepted in principle the object of the bill, and it's a good effort.
Now I have some questions about some of the details, as Mr. Moore does. I think Mr. Moore probably has a slightly longer list of questions. But I want to direct your attention to subparagraph 39.1(5)(b)(i). These are the criteria, and it refers to the outcome of the litigation.
I'd like you to rethink that a little bit. You may not have an answer now, but how could the judge in making this decision, how could the parties in making a decision, take into account the outcome of the litigation when they wouldn't know it? They'd be right in the middle of the litigation.
You may be referring to the goal or object of the litigation as opposed to the actual outcome...unless you're thinking of the impact of the outcome of the litigation?