I must say at the outset that I did not ask for an extension. But when I was asked if I was open to the idea, I said that I would agree to one if I was asked. That is when I suggested a three-year extension. My reasoning was this: one year is too short and two years would put me right in the middle of the 2015 elections. That is why I said that, if I was going to accept an extension, it would be for three years.
There are other positions where people are appointed for 10 years, in the form of a five-year renewable term. As I said to the member for Acadie—Bathurst, my colleague Jennifer Stoddart, who had a mandate for seven years, was given a new mandate for three more years. The auditor general has a 10-year mandate. So I told myself that there is some logic in going from seven years to 10.