Mr. Speaker, I cannot help but chime in at the mention of Sir Louis Henry Davies, the judge of the Supreme Court of Canada for whom our courthouse is named.
I would like to continue our conversation on the bilingualism of judges and the point the member for Victoria made in response to my last question.
When discussing the definition of functional bilingualism and whether it is an open question as to whether a judge who is functionally bilingual can actually speak the language, the definition actually contained in the policy brought forward by the Prime Minister is that a judge should be able to understand written and oral presentations from counsel without the need for simultaneous translation.
Surely the member would concede that someone whose level of comprehension is good enough that the person is able to understand legal arguments in written and oral form is most likely also to have the capacity to speak. That is not a big leap.