That's a really interesting question, and I'd like to answer it in parts.
First of all, for every bill the Government of Canada tables, we must certify if it's not constitutionally sound. There isn't a bill that the government tables that has not been analyzed by Department of Justice lawyers to ensure compliance with constitutional and charter principles. Whether it is the policy that Canada needs, of course, is another question.The policy content comes from the government, not the lawyers analyzing the legality and the constitutionality of the proposal.
I don't want to talk about Bill C-2 or Bill C-10, but if we imagine the hypothetical, it frequently happens that a department sits down with its lawyers and says they want to go north. The lawyers say, “Constitutionally, that's a problem. I can get you northeast, if you modify your travel plans a bit. If you're prepared to take a train instead of a plane, I can get you northeast.” You have that conversation all the time. It's a dynamic dialogue between the lawyers giving advice, doing a legal risk analysis, and helping the policy centre to try to achieve its goals for the greater good of Canada. That's the process.
I'm being given data on the number of lawyers. There are 2,000 lawyers in the Department of Justice at the moment. About 500 of them work on policy, programs, and management. We think there are about 125 lawyers doing legislative drafting, but I'll confirm that number for you.