Mr. Speaker, the member for Bourassa is partly right. The Liberals are not operating at all like the Conservatives. They are worse.
Never did the Conservative government—and I am not a Conservative, I have no ties to this party—never did it appoint during proceedings two judges, who are deciding on the reference regarding Quebec's right to secede. This Liberal government, for considerations known only to the Prime Minister, appointed two judges during the course of proceedings. No Conservative or other government has ever done such a thing.
I will not get into the criteria that might have guided the Prime Minister in making these two appointments. That is inadmissible. I think the member made this comment without really thinking about what he was saying and without considering the history of the Liberal Party of Canada.
That said, if I were to give the Minister of Justice some advice, if she appears concerned about the independence of the judiciary and especially her image, she should introduce a bill in this House to amend the process for appointing justices to the supreme court.
I think there is something much more important than the pay or benefits of justices and that is the principle of the source of our confidence in judges—their training—which is vital in a democratic system of justice. I believe very sincerely that the Minister of Justice should listen to these comments and particularly to the proposals of the Bloc Quebecois on appointments to the judiciary.
Today, we would perhaps have a much fairer system, as far as the judges of the Supreme Court of Canada among others were concerned, if the Liberal government had taken advantage of the two opportunities it had to put in place a transparent process for appointing these judges. It preferred, as it often does, or to put it more accurately, always does, to play politics. It went looking for candidates among the ranks of the Liberal Party. Of course, they were all perfectly qualified to be supreme court judges, I am not suggesting otherwise. I have great respect for the Supreme Court of Canada.
I think, however, that it would have helped the Supreme Court of Canada tremendously, and especially those selected by the Prime Minister for these positions, to have had a much more open system of appointment, in which the House or a parliamentary committee could have taken part.
We made several suggestions. The government has often told us, both when we were in the official opposition and today in our role as the third party, that we never make suggestions and that we are not constructive. Yet, on more than one occasion, we made some very important suggestions as to how judges should be appointed that even had the support of eminent jurists in Quebec and in Canada.
Many journalists backed up our suggestions for an appointment system, and, at her earliest opportunity, the minister should introduce a bill for making the judicial appointment process as transparent as possible.
That having been said, we will be voting against Bill C-37. We will do so not because we oppose the often fantastic and very professional work that judges do, but out of a concern for equity, solidarity, greater fairness for all. I do not think that today is the time to give a raise to judges, either judges of the superior court, or judges reporting to the National Assembly or the provincial legislatures, when, the premier, ministers and members of the National Assembly and public servants saw their salaries cut.
Given that the bill has to do, in large part, with this issue, the House will understand that we will be voting against Bill C-37. We call on the Minister of Justice to go back to the drawing board, to be more realistic, and to realize that the public is against any bill that would increase judges' salaries.