Thank you.
Mr. Paterson, first of all, I want to thank you again for the excellent discussion that we had this week. It was very constructive. I understand that your association and our committee are seeking to improve a system that you think — and I fully agree with your rationale — has a number of shortcomings...
One issue that we discussed is the challenge of choosing between making changes and improving the current system. There may not be a difference between the two options, since the measures that we want to implement are designed to improve the system.
This brings me to the independence of the oversight body that you're proposing. You argued that an internal organization would be frowned upon for efficiency or partisanship reasons, for example. I understand your argument.
I would like you to consider the following comparison. When an internal issue arises, the police call on the internal affairs division. Within the organization, the division could be seen as both judge and jury. Nevertheless, the division is recognized as independent even though, as far as the police are concerned, it's made up of police officers.
I don't want to make the same comparison with CSC, but would having an independent group that reports to CSC pose a different problem and would it make this idea inconceivable?