Mr. Speaker, I rise in the House to address remarks I made with respect to the vote on the main motion of the address in reply to the Speech from the Throne on Monday, January 27, 2020, as well as my statement yesterday, Wednesday, January 29, 2020.
I would like to inform the House that I met with my whip to discuss my responsibilities in the voting process. At that meeting, it was clear to me that I profoundly misunderstood what the phrase “put the question to the House” meant. I thought that putting the question was the entire voting process and not, as I now know, when the Speaker actually reads the question to the House.
I was on my way to the House and unfortunately got lost on my way to the chamber. As a result, I was not in the House when the Speaker put the question and arrived when the table officers were calling the names of the members for the vote. I want to sincerely and unreservedly apologize to the House and to all members for the confusion caused by my remarks and for not clearly understanding the voting process.
I understand and accept that members are of the view I misled the House. It was certainly not my intention. I ask the House and its members to forgive me for this rookie mistake. I take this matter extremely seriously, and I promise never to repeat this error again. At no time did I intend to deliberately mislead the House.
As I mentioned in my remarks yesterday, I am a new member and am not familiar with the rules and practices of the House. That unfamiliarity with these important yet rather complicated rules and practices led me to making a mistake in understanding my obligations and duties in the voting process. From this rather unfortunate event, I have learned that I need to better understand the rules of the House.
Mr. Speaker, I thank you for the opportunity to speak to this matter, and I also thank members for their understanding of the challenges and the great responsibility of being a new member. I hope other new members can benefit from my experience in this matter.