Thank you, Mr. Chairman. This bill has seen quite a bit of discussion. We discussed it in the Management and Services Board and I, for one, support every aspect of the bill except for the one area where I, along with others, have had some real problems and that is the whole concept of inmates voting. I personally believe, as a principle, that once you have been convicted of breaking the law and you are in an institution, you have lost that right or you should lose that right. I think that's a very important fundamental part of society that has been lost. Even when I heard the acting chairman talk about the need for procedures to allow dozens of candidates to woo inmates in various institutions really gives a strange symbolic signal to the public. Are we going to allow candidates signs in the cell block or in the exercise yard? I can just see it: "Vote Joe Blow," "Inmates for Joe." I have some very serious problems with that.
One of the original concepts was that all inmates could vote and I want to put on the record that if that had been brought forward, I would have not only spoken against this bill, I would have voted against this bill. We've been told, one more time, by our legal experts, that the Charter of Rights will dictate what this freely-elected Assembly must do. We have no choice, as accountable politicians, to make any other decision but to allow these inmates to vote. It is another sign where elected officials of this country really cannot make a lot of fundamental decisions and I think it's a real shame.
So, I want to say that I'm absolutely, unequivocally against the principle of inmates voting but, because of the reality that we face -- if we don't pass this law with this clause in it, the elections can be open to legal challenge -- with a lot of reluctance and because I have no option, I will support this bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.