Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Saunders, for coming here. I was on the accountability committee when this was all discussed in the past. The impression at that time, and this time, is that the Director of Public Prosecutions is independent. I think that's what the meat of the accountability provisions in respect of this was.
When I hear you say, and we read the law, that you're accountable to the Attorney General and the Minister of Justice, it leads me to believe there is a bit of debate that's going to be worked out over your first term as DPP between ministerial responsibility on one hand and the preservation of prosecutorial discretion on the other.
So far you've given evidence that you report to the Attorney General in cases of general interest, occasionally, perhaps frequently in some cases. There's no really clear idea here, to me, to the public, that you are anything but the de facto Attorney General unless you were to tell me in your answer that you are frequently communicating with Minister Nicholson, that you frequently tell him there are cases we find of interest, and that he is monitoring and doing his job as Attorney General. Either you are accountable to him and inform him fully on what's going on with respect to prosecutions in this country, or you're the guy who makes all the decisions; and as they say, heavy is the head that wears the crown. You would be the person all of us would be looking to, for instance, if a prosecution of a public office-holder didn't or did take place, depending on which side of the fence politics likes.
Could you flesh out how much reporting you're giving to the Attorney General, Mr. Nicholson, whether he's ever asked specifically to meet with you on a case, for instance?