The Decision-making Process / Miscellaneous

Recorded divisions: casting vote

March 4, 2010

Debates, p. 21

On December 10, 2009, the deferred recorded division on the motion for the third reading of Bill C-291, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (coming into force of sections 110, 111 and 171), resulted in an equality of voices (143 votes in favour and 143 votes against), so the Speaker gave the casting vote. In keeping with the conventions governing the casting vote, he voted to maintain the status quo, which in this case meant voting against the motion, and thus the motion was defeated.^[1] On March 4, 2010, the Speaker delivered a statement with regard to the result of this vote. He noted that it had been brought to the attention of the Table that an error had occurred in that Joseph Volpe (Eglinton–Lawrence) had been counted as having voted in favour of the motion when in fact he had not voted at all. The Speaker pointed out that the outcome of the vote remained the same: the motion for third reading of Bill C-291 remained defeated, but this time on a vote of 142 yeas to 143 nays. He informed the House that, in keeping with the precedents applicable to the discovery of such errors, a corrigendum was published on December 30, 2009 to correct the Journals of December 10, 2009,^[2] to reflect the true result of the vote.

Statement of the Chair

The Speaker: Before we proceed with Routine Proceedings, I have an important statement I would like to make to the House about the result of a vote taken on December 10, 2009, on the motion for third reading of Bill C-291, An Act to amend the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (coming into force of sections 110, 111 and 171).

As hon. Members will recall, the announced result was a tie, with 143 Members recorded as having voted in favour and 143 Members recorded as having voted against. On hearing that the votes were equally divided on the motion, I gave the casting vote in the negative on the procedural grounds that the existing Act should be maintained in its current form in order to uphold the status quo.

Since then, it was brought to the attention of the Table that a Member had been erroneously counted as having voted yea. Further verifications were made to confirm that an error had in fact been made, namely that the hon. Member for Eglinton–Lawrence had remained seated throughout the vote.

As hon. Members will realize, if this yea vote had not been counted in error, events would have unfolded differently. No tie vote would have occurred. No casting vote would have been required. However, and most significantly, the outcome of the vote remains the same. The motion for third reading of Bill C-219 remains defeated, but on a vote of 142 yeas and 143 nays.

Accordingly, in keeping with precedents for when such errors are discovered, I am informing the House that a corrigendum was published on December 30 to correct the Journals of December 10, 2009, so that the true result of the vote may be properly reflected in our official records.

I thank hon. Members for their attention to this detail. It is an important one from the point of view of the number of casting votes the Chair has to cast in the House.