There is one other element of the process where parliamentarians are consulted, and that's on the short list. I undertake to speak with my critics both in the House of Commons and in the Senate, and also with members of the committee from a particular region or province. I did that in the two processes I participated in. One focused on Quebec; this last one focused on Ontario.
There is a non-disclosure agreement that is signed by people in these particular circumstances, but parliamentarians are consulted there.
I think the merits of this process are...I don't want to say obvious, but I do want to say evident. First of all is a set of criteria that are published in advance, which frame the work of the advisory board and allow our colleague, Mr. MacGregor, to ask the precise question he did at the beginning as to how the interaction of a certain criterion was applied by the independent advisory board. It also frames the decision that the Prime Minister ultimately has to make. It allows for diversity of thought and representativity at the level of the board. It allows for parliamentarians to be consulted and then allows for the process we're going through now and the process you will go through this afternoon.
There's a very good balance here of identifying and evaluating good candidates, maintaining confidentiality, always searching for integrity, capacity, intellect and merit, and fostering diversity.
I think we have managed in a very transparent way to put together a very good process.