Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I rise today to speak, yet again, on the issue of the unconstitutionality of our legislation which prohibits inmates from voting. Some Members of this Assembly may recall that I raised this issue during the 11th Assembly. As well, I have made several statements on this issue during the 12th Assembly.

For those Members unfamiliar with the issue, I will briefly outline the background of this issue. Section 28(3) of our Elections Act provides that a person "undergoing punishment as an inmate in a prison for the commission of an offence" shall not be entitled to vote. This conflicts sharply with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Section 3, which provides that, "every citizen of Canada has a right to vote in an election of Members of the House of Commons or of a Legislative Assembly, and to be qualified for membership therein."

Mr. Speaker, many provinces across Canada, and the federal government have electoral provisions similar to ours which prohibit inmates from voting. In the 1990s, several court challenges to these provisions were launched. Some were successful, others -- for reasons of timing and pending elections -- were not.

As a result of the uncertainty on this issue -- and my concern that our legislation in this regard may be unconstitutional -- I moved a motion on July 3, 1991, asking that our government refer this issue to the courts by a ruling under the Legal Questions Act, as to where our Elections Act was constitutional.

A territorial election was impending and I was concerned that our government might be acting in an unconstitutional fashion by refusing to allow inmates to vote. I was further concerned that an inmate could possibly stall the election by bringing in a court challenge to our legislation on the eve of the election.

Mr. Speaker, I'm sad to say that this motion was defeated. Many Members spoke against this motion because they felt it meant that prisoners...