Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Professor Schwartz.
If I were a lawyer and at trial, I might offer up the statement “case closed” after hearing your testimony. But thankfully I'm not a lawyer, and I do appreciate much of your testimony. I must say that much of what you have said we have also heard from witnesses from the AFN who took part in this negotiated agreement in drafting this bill. So your testimony has lined up well with the testimony of others who took part in this bill. Clearly you have an intimate knowledge of the drafting of this bill. I must say, you would do a better job at describing its key parts than I could, so I'm glad you're here today.
Of the few areas I wanted to touch on, I appreciate your talking about the independence of the tribunal, specifically in relation to the appointment of judges, because I know that point was raised by some of the parties involved in the drafting of the bill. The government side, of course, feels that having judges provides a key element of independence. These are individuals who have given up all partisan politics; they're individuals who endeavour to strive for pure independence. Of course, that's an ideal or utopian thought, which perhaps can't be achieved, but in theory that is what is attempted by the judiciary. In essence, I think you've stated quite correctly that this is the right approach, though you have offered the other arguments that were on the table as well.
Going to the idea of unilateral undertakings, though, you talked about your interpretation of what might be considered a unilateral undertaking. Would that interpretation be up to the Superior Court judges who are going to be appointed? And if there were a disagreement as to what a unilateral undertaking was, or should be considered to be, could another judge perhaps intervene to argue a case for a specific unilateral undertaking?