Justice committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair and honourable members of Parliament and of this committee. I was very pleased to receive an invitation to come here. I never turn them down anyway. I feel it a duty for somebody who has occupied my various positions to make myself available to the elected wh

Justice committee  Could I interrupt? In 1950, I gave my ears to the Royal Canadian Artillery. I'm an old gunner, so could you please speak a little louder?

Justice committee  Well, when people get too loud with me, I just take the both hearing aids out.

Justice committee  No, I can hear you if you speak just a little louder. You have a very smooth voice.

Justice committee  I agree with Professor Ziegel, who made that recommendation, that you do so. I raised the matter because I was hoping we would get to that. They're not even sworn. When do they disqualify themselves? What if one of the members is related to—? There is nothing. I didn't have t

Justice committee  First of all, we're not sure the police officer meets one of my two criteria, that of knowing the lawyers or knowing exactly whether such and such a lawyer has the desired qualifications. Some police officers never go to court. That may be one of these police officers. That's str

Justice committee  It's not up to me to grant permission; it's the Chairman who grants it.

Justice committee  That's one of the peculiarities I was thinking of when I used it. Why take away the vote of the person who best knows the requirements of a judicial position? He's the one who knows this the best. Ordinarily it's not a recently appointed judge. It's a judge with a certain amount

Justice committee  I think that, if we've gotten to the point where we can't say “highly recommended”, that means we're talking about a person who shouldn't be on the list. In my opinion, people who are highly recommended are the only ones who should be on the list. As regards the categorization—I

Justice committee  No. No, I hope to God that's not what they're doing.

Justice committee  I'm used to hearing two different things. I spent 30 years hearing two different versions. No, they must look at the postulant's record, look at the references he has offered, and find out, if they don't know—some people are more known than others, and lawyers don't know all the

Justice committee  I don't know. I've never been on a committee. It's not public. They don't put out reports. How can we know?

Justice committee  I don't know what's going on. That's why I had to talk to a few people, who I'm not going to name, who gave me insight into how they went about things a little bit, but not too much.

Justice committee  And REAL Women. You've got to say both.

Justice committee  I agree with what he just said. I would also recommend, as he did, that there be a reference to the Supreme Court to ask the question. That said, as a former Chief Justice, out of deference to my former colleagues, I will be silent about how I would vote if I were still on the b