The court decisions on this issue do indicate that there is a distinction between notifying individuals that a particular candidate will be the next Commissioner of Official Languages and submitting to them the name of the selected candidates, giving them the name of the preferred one and then asking them what they think about it. That's the difference.
In the case of Supreme Court justices, for example, the three successful candidates are presented, the favoured one is indicated and people are asked what they think. We should use the same process for the Commissioner of Official Languages. The Prime Minister should call the leaders of the opposition parties to tell them the names of the successful candidates, tell them which he favours and ask them what they think. Then we'd be talking about a consultation.