Mr. Speaker, one of the qualifications that was obviously a problem was partisanship. The officers of Parliament cannot be partisan. They must be impartial. Is that a fair thing to ask for? Yes, of course it is, because they do not work for one party or another. They work for all of Parliament.
The problem with Madam Meilleur's appointment, and I would extend that to the Prime Minister's judgment in nominating her in the first place, was that she would be in a conflict of interest, which her intelligence led her to admit. She was too partisan to apply to the Senate, as she said, and her conflict of interest in being a donor to the Prime Minister's campaign would mean that she would not be able to investigate the Prime Minister. Yes, of course, she is qualified on languages, but she is not qualified to be an officer of Parliament. Would it be a fair statement to say that someone who is in a conflict of interest cannot perform the role we are asking them to do? That is simply what was exposed through this experience.