Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
I agree entirely with my colleague Mr. Arseneault. We discussed this at our last meeting.
First, it would be important to point out that this is the first time in our history, from what I understand, that a commissioner was selected through an open and transparent process. That never happened before. In the past, leaders of the government appointed the person.
Personally, I find it remarkable that anyone who thought they met the criteria could apply for the position. I think that if I had not been a member of Parliament, I might have applied myself, because I think I meet the criteria. In fact, self-assessment is the very first step. The person must determine if he or she meets the criteria. Once he has done this self-assessment, if he feels that he has all of the necessary skills, he may decide to apply. He does not wait to be called; he simply applies, because he wants to apply for this position, and because according to his own assessment, he has all of the necessary competencies and meets the criteria.
And so, 72 people applied. That in itself is quite impressive. There may have been 200 or 500 people who felt they could do this work, but actually applying is another matter. You have to commit to the position for a seven-year term, which requires that you move to Ottawa, I imagine. This has to fit into the person's career plan.
I am not here to reassess the work that was done by the selection committee, or even before that. In fact, even before the 72 candidacies made it to the selection committee, the process was not tainted by any political influence, since a professional and independent company was hired to analyze the 72 candidacies. Once again, that is very impressive. The selection committee then examined all of these files and selected 12 people who, following the analysis of the dossiers and other elements, clearly met the criteria at a very high level. Afterwards, according to what I understand, 10 people were chosen by the selection committee to undergo a psychometric assessment, as well as a reference check.
No one mentions this, but the selection committee was for the most part made up of public servants.