Information & Ethics committee  Sir, I'll answer very briefly. I've given a copy to the clerk of this committee of my submission. We have in our discussions focused on travel expenses, but our concern is not limited to travel expenses, so I do invite members of committee to read the written submission I've give

Information & Ethics committee  It is a concern if 50 judges gather for an annual legal education conference and it is published on the Internet where and on which dates these judges gather. It is just, in my submission, ill-advised to require that kind of granular information. There is a security risk to that

Information & Ethics committee  Yes. Administrative independence has been held to extend to assignment decisions by chief justices. Members of the committee, chief justices of Canada's national courts are troubled and extremely concerned by this regime. I cannot overemphasize this point, and these chief justi

Information & Ethics committee  They're not going to make the best assignment decision in that case—

Information & Ethics committee  That's right.

Information & Ethics committee  That's right, and that's the decision, between expense decisions that are discretionary and expense decisions that result from someone else's decision—in this case, the chief justice.

Information & Ethics committee  They're very concerned about this particular point. They're very concerned about travelling expenses of named individual judges standing out without the information that would provide context.

Information & Ethics committee  This was expressed to me.

Information & Ethics committee  I'm the porte-parole of the association, and as I've said, the Canadian Judicial Council has read the text of my submission and has said that it endorses the submission.

Information & Ethics committee  Well, it's unclear to me too, sir, why there is that exemption. That doesn't mean that it shouldn't exist. You've heard the substance of my position, which is that the whole regime should be changed, but insofar as that exemption is concerned, it's unclear why it's there. It does

Information & Ethics committee  The suggestion I have made is that the decision be that of the chief justice.

Information & Ethics committee  Here, he wouldn't have to ask for the information, because it's a proactive publication system—

Information & Ethics committee  —so the publication would be—

Information & Ethics committee  Well, it could be.... I leave it to your imagination.

Information & Ethics committee  It could be to try to embarrass the judge. Again, the problem, as I said earlier, is too little and too much—too much and too little.