Let me explain myself: when I say “obscure”, it means that I don't have all of the political experience that certain other members have. This is my first mandate. However, the Standing Committee on Official Languages does not have the authority to criticize the process, because we were not invited to take part in its development. We are not the ones who initiated the process.
The only thing that counts for me today is that there is an Official Languages Act in which part IX, in section 49, outlines how to appoint an Official Languages Commissioner. It says:
The Governor in Council shall, by commission under the great seal, appoint a Commissioner of Official Languages for Canada, after consultation with the leader of every recognized party in the Senate and House of Commons and approval of the appointment by resolution of the Senate and House of Commons.
If the process was not respected, we are all in agreement here that it is not the Standing Committee on Official Languages that will determine whether it was or not. It's a legal matter.
Secondly, if Ms. Meilleur officially becomes Commissioner of Official Languages, she will have a firm, set mandate of seven years. If she places herself in a conflict of interest, we could think that we are stuck with someone who will be in a conflict of interest for the seven entire years. Subsection 49(2), regarding the length of the mandate and the revocation of the Commissioner of Official Languages, states that “the commissioner holds office during good behaviour”—so we cannot remove her— “for a term of seven years, but may be removed for cause by the Governor in Council at any time on address of the Senate and House of Commons.”
These two short paragraphs of section 49 of the Official Languages Act outline how to appoint a Commissioner of Official Languages, and how to terminate his or her mandate. There are two ways of ending it: it ends after seven years, unless the mandate is renewed, or following the removal for cause by the Senate and the House of Commons. All I am interested in as a Canadian, and also as a lawyer, is how the appointment to the position of Commissioner of Official Languages is made and how it ends.
Our committee was not asked to take part in the process to appoint the Commissioner of Official Languages. If we do not have the authority to do so, for the reasons listed by Mr. Lefebvre, we have even less authority to change the process, or to criticize or amend it. That is not our role. Our role is to evaluate the person's qualities. We must also ask ourselves whether this Commissioner of Official Languages—if she becomes the commissioner—will be able to defend our rights or not.
Let me summarize the two reasons behind my decision. The first is related to the quality of the candidacy of Ms. Meilleur. She has the necessary qualities, and everyone has said so. Mr. Mulcair himself said that he had not come here to criticize her qualifications, and that she had them. I think that everyone, or most people, are of that opinion. I have heard no negative remarks regarding Ms. Meilleur's past experience that would prevent her from occupying this position. For that reason, I will vote against the motion.
The second reason is that the Standing Committee on Official Languages, in my opinion, does not have the authority to criticize the process, because we, the members of this committee, were not involved in setting it up. We are not the ones who created the process. According to the act—and I know that Mr. Choquette does not agree—our committee does not appoint the commissioner, and does not put an end to her mandate either. This is prescribed by law. If there are any legal challenges, the government will have to face them, and deal with the consequences.
Personally, as a member of the Standing Committee on Official Languages, I have to read the law, and I conclude that I do not have the mandate to get involved in the nomination process. If that had been the case, we would have been involved from the outset in setting up the process. We were not. For these reasons, I will vote against the motion.