As I mentioned, the day we were established in December 2006, we informed the minister's office that from then on, agents would be appointed by our office, because under the statute it says that agents are retained by the director of public prosecutions, so we took that to mean that we don't consult with the attorney general when it comes to appointment of agents. Instead, we run a competition. Agents are appointed on a five-year term, and when the term is up, we have a competition, advertise it, and we evaluate the firms on the basis of their ability. We get references, but in effect, they go through almost the same process a prosecutor working as a staff lawyer would. They have to write a test to show their knowledge of the law. They're evaluated on that test, and then we go to the references. We do a check on their criminal record, and we check with Revenue Canada to make sure there are no outstanding taxes.
We think we do a fairly good job in ensuring that the people we hire as agents are qualified. We know we do a good job in ensuring that hiring is based on their qualifications and not on the basis of any political affiliation.