Government Operations committee  Roughly speaking, we have slightly fewer than 1,000 a year.

Government Operations committee  Security checks are done, and if there is any potential conflict of interest, the person is referred to the conflict of interest and ethics commissioner so that the issue is addressed and resolved before that person's appointment.

Government Operations committee  I wasn't at the Privy Council Office at the time of Madame Jean's appointment. As you no doubt understand, issues related to the appointment of a Governor General are not handled in the same way as those associated with the some 999 others that are examined in the course of a normal year.

Government Operations committee  We recognize that there is an issue with organizations, in some cases, where the vacancies are not necessarily being filled at a fast enough clip. Not all vacancies are filled. In some organizations the enabling legislation provides for a certain number of positions. The operational needs of the agency are not necessarily for the maximum number allowable.

Government Operations committee  We're entirely aware of the problem and of the discussions you've had on this question with the people who have appeared before your committee. I thought I heard this afternoon that Ms. Boudrias was to appear before you soon on this subject on one or two occasions. It's the Agency that has the leadership to address this problem.

Government Operations committee  To my knowledge, this is a problem that is not amenable to as quick a solution as simply seeing the Privy Council Office say that it should be solved. Some departmental human resource sectors have personnel shortage problems and ad hoc needs, as a result of which there is an increase in staffing requests.

Government Operations committee  Sorry, could you repeat the question, please?

Government Operations committee  The appointment is made by the Governor in Council, then it goes to the cabinet, with final approval by the Governor General. These are appointments to all the agencies, boards, and commissions, as well as diplomatic appointments, appointments of deputy ministers, and these come through the Privy Council Office.

Government Operations committee  The Privy Council Office supports the cabinet in its decision-making, including for the approval of appointments. It's contingent upon appointments being recommended by ministers. Basically, we're processing. We fulfill a technical function in processing. The actual moneys for the payment of the salaries of the individuals are disbursed by the organizations themselves.

Public Accounts committee  The issue with performance pay for heads of quasi-judicial tribunals is the legal difficulty of having the government assess performance of someone who has an investigatory or decision-making capacity vis-à-vis government decisions. There is case law to that effect saying that it is seen as going against the required independence of the agency for the government to have flexibility in what amount should be attributed as performance pay.

Public Accounts committee  With respect to the actions of staff of the Correctional Investigator, I'm not in a position to respond to that, because our section is responsible for Governor in Council appointees—i.e., Mr. Stewart—but not for the staff of the Correctional Investigator's office. There is an issue there that Howard may—

Public Accounts committee  Yes.

Public Accounts committee  Because Mr. Stewart was heading a quasi-judicial position during the period of the audit, he was not getting performance pay. In fact, what he was getting was management pay for his management responsibilities. There had been case law in the late 1980s that indicated there was a problem for the government to award performance pay to a person holding a quasi-judicial position or a position requiring independence, such as an ombudsman-like function.

Public Accounts committee  First, as far as the length of the mandates are concerned, Mr. Stewart was appointed from 1977 to 1993 under the Inquiries Act, which did not call for a fixed mandate. In 1993, he was appointed for a five-year term under the new Corrections and Conditional Release Act. In fact, he was appointed for five years in 1993, reappointed for three years in 1998, and lastly reappointed again for a two-year period in 2001.

Public Accounts committee  Mr. Stewart is a lawyer by training. He studied at Queen's University and was admitted to the Ontario Bar. This was the main reason he was hired for the position.