Mr. Speaker, let me address the member's first point on his opinion about what the Supreme Court said. If that is the case, dare I remind him of what the former prime minister, and his former leader, said after the Supreme Court decision. He went around the country saying that he was sorry, that the Conservatives tried their best, but the Supreme Court said they could not do anything about it.
If he is so confident in his opinion, why did his former leader, after 10 years of promising the entire country Senate reform, not go ahead and appoint those elected senators? This question poses itself, and it is worthy of a response from the member.
The reality is that the Supreme Court decision was loud and clear. It said that any significant and substantive changes to the Senate appointment process would require constitutional changes.
However, our government was happy to commit to Canadians that we would introduce an open and transparent process for appointing new senators. We have been very clear throughout this process, and each step of the process has been as transparent as possible.
First, when the government process was announced, the government published the merit-based criteria for senators online, so all Canadians could see what qualifications and skill sets the advisory board was expected to assess in its deliberations.
Second, when the advisory board members were appointed, the government published their terms of reference.
Third, the advisory board established a public website to call for nominations during the transitional phase and was mandated to reach out broadly in its consultations with organizations.
The next phase of the process will entail an open application process through which any qualified Canadian can submit an application to be considered for the Senate.
In following each cycle of appointments, the advisory board will provide a public report to the Prime Minister that contains information on the process, including on the execution of the terms of reference, the costs related to the advisory board's activities, and statistics relating to the applications received. The board's report on the transitional phase was published April 5, 2016.
I do not know about my colleague, but in the past when I applied for jobs, I really did not want the entire world to know which job I applied for because I did not want to be embarrassed if I was rejected. Because we want to attract the best and brightest for these jobs, we need to respect the privacy of those applicants.
I hope my colleague can respect the privacy of those applicants, particularly if we want to attract the best and the brightest.