Madam Speaker, I can assure the member that the Government of Canada appointments that have been made were open and transparent and chose individuals with great merit. The question that the member originally posed was interesting. He said that we are appointing Liberals. Hundreds of appointments have been made, and I would be challenged to come up with names of Liberals that I am aware of. However, there is one person I am aware of, and I think a lot of Canadians are aware, and that is Kim Campbell. Kim Campbell is not a Liberal. She was a Progressive Conservative prime minister and, yes, the beneficiary of an appointment.
The reason I say that is that Canadians should know and understand, and I would suggest maybe even possibly appreciate, that there was a significant change in the manner appointments were being made since the last federal election. It highlights the open, transparent, and merit-based appointments. We have seen real, tangible results as a direct result of the open way appointments are being made. In fact, I suggest to my colleague across the way that the results are in the numbers. He will see very encouraging numbers. All Canadians are eligible to apply for federal appointments, and this government bases choice on merit and the credentials people have.
Under this new process, close to 400 appointments have been made. Think about this: almost 60% of those appointments are women, more than 12% are visible minorities, and 10% are indigenous. I know my friends across the way would recognize that, under this new process, no politicization has taken place. They might find that hard to believe, but I would encourage him to believe us on that point. That is the reason I mentioned the appointment of the former prime minister, Kim Campbell.
This new process will help strengthen trust in our democracy and ensure the integrity of our public institutions. Our aim is simple: to identify high-quality candidates who are committed to the principle of public service and embrace public service values. Further, the new appointment process will help achieve things such as gender parity and truly reflect Canada's diversity.
I suggest that Canadians can continue to apply for positions on commissions, boards, crown corporations, agencies, and tribunals across the country as the selection processes for more positions continue to be launched. It is an open and transparent process that is based on merit, and I would encourage Canadians to continue doing what they have done and apply for these positions.