The discretionary power vested in the Attorney General is of primordial importance in the proper administration of the law. Were it to need to consult parties before taking a decision to prosecute, its independence would certainly be put into question. As was stated by Chief Justice Fauteux, as he then was, in the case of Smythe v. The Queen 1971 CanLII 831 (SCC), [1971] S.C.R. 680 at page 686: Obviously, the manner in which the Attorney General of the day exercises his statutory discretion may be questioned or censured by the legislative body to which he is answerable, but that again is foreign to the determination of the question now under consideration. Enforcement of the law, and especially of the criminal law, would be impossible unless someone in authority be vested with some measure of discretionary power.