With the process the Prime Minister announced on August 2, the intent is to modernize and put in place a process that ensures that we are open and transparent and that there are many levels of accountability in the process that we as a government will employ to appoint the next Supreme Court of Canada justice.
Central to that, or the nucleus of this new appointment process, is an independent advisory board. Our intent is to depoliticize the process and to provide eminent Canadians, the seven whom I mentioned in my comments, with the ability to take an unprecedented step, with the opening up of the application process to qualified jurists from across the country who are functionally bilingual and reflect the diversity, and have the opportunity to put forward their applications for this most esteemed position. There are many steps—if we want to call them “steps”—in this process that will enable members of Parliament to be fundamentally involved as the process unfolds. That process will ensure that members will be able to provide their input not only on the process but on the eventual nominee.