Mr. Speaker, it was not only because of our respect for eminent Canadians but also because of respect for the integrity of the process that we went out and got opinions from former Supreme Court justices, like Mr. Justice Binnie and Madam Justice Charron, and also constitutional expert Peter Hogg. We reached out to Canadians, got that learned advice.
Contrary to what the Leader of the Opposition has suggested, that somehow everybody knew that the process was established, somebody forgot to tell all those Federal Court judges who applied to be Supreme Court justices.