Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Minister, allow me to make it unanimous in terms of the parties represented here in thanking Justice LeBel for his years of service and in welcoming Suzanne Côté to the Supreme Court. I also share the view of Madame Boivin when she indicated that the fact that you have chosen to nominate a woman is a positive step towards correcting the gender imbalance in the court. I would also offer my support in that regard, Minister.
She said something else that I would also align myself with. I appreciate your candour with respect to being open to changes in the process going forward that potentially allow for parliamentary involvement. As you know well, all parties agreed under the previous administration that a closed, secretive process wasn't appropriate, and there was a process that you acknowledged worked quite well in the appointment of Justice Wagner.
I've gone one step further, Minister, and put the committee on notice of a motion, which I propose to present now, and that is:
That the Committee agree with the recommendations of the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, submitted on May 5, 2004, when he joined with the Honourable Kevin Sorenson, Minister of State for Finance; the Honourable Vic Toews, former Minister of Justice and Attorney General; Mr. Garry Breitkreuz, Member for Yorkton-Melville; and Mr. Chuck Cadman, former Member for Surrey North, to recommend that “[t]here must be substantive input from all the provinces and territories into the compilation of a list of suitable Supreme Court of Canada nominees”, “[t]here must be a public review of a short list of the nominees before a parliamentary committee”, and “[t]here must be Parliamentary ratification of the chosen nominee.”