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After breaking parliamentary rules by getting out of his seat during a vote, Manitoba MP Pat Martin blamed the episode on a pair of ill-fitting underwear.

“I realize I did inadvertently leave my seat briefly in the middle of the debate, but I can blame it on a sale that they had down at the Hudson’s Bay, they had men’s underwear that was on for half price,” Mr. Martin, the NDP MP for Winnipeg Centre, told the House of Commons.

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“I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me and I find it difficult to sit for any length of time.”

The occasion was a simple procedural vote on whether to adjourn debate over Bill C-51, the Conservative government’s proposed anti-terrorism legislation. The bill was up for second reading on Thursday.

I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me and I find it difficult to sit for any length of time

After Mr. Martin voted — and then violated procedure by stepping away from his chair before the votes were tallied — Conservative MP Royal Galipeau stood up to catch him on it.