The House has heard the Clerk announce an equality of votes for and against the motion. It is therefore my duty in these circumstances to exercise the casting vote. I should make it clear that I am casting my vote on purely procedural grounds. In accordance with precedent, that is, decisions made by my predecessors in similar circumstances, and since no further discussion on the matter is possible, I will cast my vote against the motion in order to allow the House to preserve the possibility that the matter might somehow be before the House again in the future, to be decided by a majority of members.
I wish to inform the House that because of the deferred recorded divisions, the time provided for Government Orders will be extended by 12 minutes.