Mr. Speaker, I realize that the hon. member of course was previously, and I imagine still is, a lawyer himself, so he speaks with some level of knowledge about this, which many others in the country would not have.
I would like to ask him, as I asked the colleague from the New Democratic Party who spoke before him, about what he feels might be a way to improve the appointment process. In his speech he talked a great deal about the compensation judges should be given for the type of job they do. I can appreciate some of the arguments made in that respect, but I know there are abuses in the system.
I will relate to him one example that I am aware of in Calgary, whereby a particular firm was given the nod, as it were, in terms of it being the firm's time to put forward one of its people for a judgeship. Officially it is supposed to be an open process. What happened was that someone who did wills and estates in a particular firm—and I do not want to name that particular firm even though I could here in the House—and who was not a particularly accomplished lawyer sent in an application. When the government received it, it took that application to be the application that the firm in a sense had anointed as its application and that person was appointed.
Later on, two individuals, one of them representing the government, happened to meet on an elevator. The one representing the government said to a senior partner with the law firm that he hoped everything had worked out okay, that the government had received the firm's appointment and everything was taken care of.
The senior partner said that the firm's selection had not yet been made. The government official said that of course the firm had made its selection, that the government had the piece of paper, and he asked if that was not what it was supposed to get. The official said he thought that was what the firm wanted. The lawyer then replied that he did not even know who the individual was and that he would look it up on the letterhead.
He had to look at a list of about 200 lawyers and finally found the lawyer who had been struggling in wills and estates. He then realized that someone had openly sent in a bid and had been given the judgeship.
I tell the story because I know there have been problems. I know that people have been appointed to these positions—