Mr. Speaker, in answering that question, I would like to refer to a question that I posed to my hon. friend just a moment ago.
The motion today talks about custom. Custom can be departed from under a variety of different circumstances. We are not talking about a convention here that has crystalized into a legally binding norm. That is not the case.
Therefore, yes, we would like Atlantic representation to be one of the criteria that is looked at by the committee. It will certainly be a primordial criterion upon which the ultimate decision is based as to a choice of a Supreme Court justice. There will, in all likelihood, be a large number of strong Atlantic Canadian candidates for the Supreme Court, but we are talking about custom here. We are not talking about convention. Therefore, there is still the possibility, based on merit and these other considerations, that perhaps the best candidate for the job may not come from Atlantic Canada this time.