May I finish the set of facts, Chair?
There were a number of members in different situations. Mr. Morantz was asked for his vote. He said, “I think we're on points of order.” The matter was not clarified. The clerk simply bypassed him after he had raised the issue. I can say for myself that I was in the middle of raising a point of order. I think Mr. Lawrence has already said that he had a point of order that was happening at the same time, and Mr. Hallan as well. You had multiple members in different situations who were not able to vote, who were prevented in their right to vote, and this is a serious matter of privilege.
I would submit to you, again, in the interest of minority rights, the rights of members of Parliament to be heard and to vote on behalf of their constituents, that this is a serious matter of privilege, and I would ask that you take it under consideration and report back to the committee. There may be other members who wish to add to this question of privilege.
This is an important matter dealing with the right of members to vote, so I hope the committee will uphold the right of members to vote and identify an appropriate remedy, because we are not here to just express our own opinions. We're members of the “deliberate assembly of one nation”, as Burke said, and we have a responsibility not just to articulate what we think, but to be the reasoned voices of our constituents and to exercise our considered judgment and reflect their voices in the things we say and the arguments we make in our defence of the rules and procedures in this place in the way that we seek to uphold the integrity of this institution.
We may at times be called upon to forcefully defend the functioning and the integrity of this institution, but that all comes back to the right to express ourselves—yes, in speech; yes, through putting various proposals on the table; but, most fundamentally, members have the right to vote. This is well established in rules and precedent. Members need to be able to vote and to access places where voting takes place unfettered. I think the facts of the case we dealt with earlier today.... I don't know if there were members of other parties who were affected—