Thank you for your question, Ms. Brière.
In the unfortunately well-known case of former Justice Girouard, we saw that every possible effort was made to conduct a judicial review and to appeal from the decision and that every tactic was used to prolong the process and increase costs and delays. Unfortunately, when the Supreme Court ultimately dismissed the application for leave to appeal, I informed Parliament that I was prepared to remove Justice Girouard from office, but he retired with full pension.
In one of the fall economic statements, about a year and a half ago, we resolved the pension plan issue, but now we need to review the process.
We currently have a process with clear guidelines and a transparent procedure for appealing from decisions to the courts. The review panels consist of judges, lawyers and lay members. So we can trust the system.
Judges will have the assurance that they will be treated fairly, and the general public will see that the process is more efficient, less costly, shorter, clearer and more transparent.