Mr. Speaker, when the government goes to the legal profession to hire agents to help us with legal cases the fundamental criterion is competence and merit. That is as true in
British Columbia as it is in Newfoundland and as it is here in Ontario.
I take this opportunity to tell the hon. member that during the last 18 months this government has made a number of significant changes in the way we retain agents in the legal profession to do work for us. They are changes that are very much in line with the principles he has described.
For example, there has been a significant decrease in government expenditures on agents. Spending was reduced by 25 per cent in 1994 compared to 1993, when the other government was in power. The number of agents was reduced over the country from 550 to 400. Agents have been replaced by staff counsel-