Mr. Speaker, I would hope the Minister of Justice would take more seriously his obligation to defend the independence of the judiciary.
We now know that a step in the process of appointing judges is for a member of the supposedly non-partisan appointments committee to confirm with Liberal headquarters how much work nominees have done for the Liberal Party. This is a very serious matter, calling into question the independence of the judiciary. At a time when Canadians are looking to the courts to deliver justice to sponsorship players facing criminal charges, this news corrodes public confidence in the courts.
In light of these additional revelations, does the Prime Minister still deny that there was partisan involvement in the judicial appointment--