I thank the hon. members for their comments. The hon. member for Calgary Southeast certainly did find the relevant paragraph in the annotated standing orders, to which I am sure he knew the Chair would refer in dealing with the point of order raised by his colleague. I congratulate him for finding it so quickly and pointing it out to me. I find it very helpful and quite instructive in dealing with the situation we are faced with in the House this afternoon.
Perhaps the hon. member for Port Moody—Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, hearing the whole paragraph, will realize the position he got himself into by raising the point of order.
It states:
When a Member has a direct pecuniary interest in a question being decided in the House, the Member may not vote. For a Member to be disqualified from voting, the monetary interest must be direct and personal. As such, measures with a wide application, such as matters of public policy, are not generally considered in this light. Even voting a pay increase to Members themselves does not amount to a case of direct monetary interest, because it applies to all Members, rather than to just one, or to certain Members but not to others.
In this case, as I understand it, the bill provides for an increase of a specified amount that applies to all hon. members. There are differences between certain members who hold different offices in the House, such as the Speaker, ministers of the crown, parliamentary secretaries, whips, House leaders and so on. They all have different salary adjustments. However the increase is a general one applied across the board with some minor adjustments within those divisions.
I know the hon. member for Calgary Southeast has suggested that only members who opt in get it but the fact is that the opting in provision is available to all hon. members. It is a matter of general application.
Certainly after the expiry of the time for opting in has passed there may be differences in the rates of pay of various members. However the fact is that the rates are established for all members, should they choose to opt in, and every MP has the right to opt in under the bill as I understand it. I have not been able to see anything in the bill before us that would restrict that right.
I must therefore conclude that while the argument may be academically interesting, it is without merit. I do not believe that Standing Order 21, based on the interpretation and the application of the rule since its inception almost 100 years ago, has any formal validity in dealing with this bill. I am unable to find that the hon. members between them have raised a valid point.