I appreciate my colleague's effort to put an alternate option on the table with respect to the Prime Minister's appointment.
The concern about this amendment, in my view, is the fact that it leads to the option of appointing a sitting judge. The intelligence commissioner is expected to function independently, but she or he is nonetheless serving the executive branch and not the judiciary. There is a risk of conflict of interest with respect to sitting judges, particularly if dealing with cases involving conduct on the part of CSIS or the CSE. It is problematic also with respect to conduct related to authorizations that could come before a judge that were approved by the intelligence commissioner.
In my view it is not a good idea to involve sitting judges as candidates.