WINNIPEG ─ A brief exchange at the House of Commons Thursday morning revealed even Winnipeg politicians can't resist a good bargain.

Winnipeg Centre MP Pat Martin was put in the hot seat Thursday when asked to explain why he was out of his seat during a vote on a procedural motion.

His excuse: his half-price underwear was too small.

On Thursday morning, Conservative MP Royal Galipeau called on Martin to explain why he left his seat during a vote to adjourn debate.

Martin responded with perhaps more detail than the House of Commons was expecting.

"I can blame it on a sale that was held at the Hudson's Bay. They had a bunch on for half-price. I bought a bunch that was clearly too small for me, and I find it difficult to sit for any length of time, Mr. Speaker. So I apologize if it was necessary for me to leave my seat briefly, but I did not mean to forfeit my right to vote."

Martin continued to joke about his exchange hours later, when speaking to QMI Agency.

"It is a matter of civic pride for Winnipeggers that nobody pays full price for anything, 50% off is like cat-nip to a Winnipegger,” Martin told QMI Agency.

In actuality, the NDP MP said he left his seat to ask the speaker to clarify what they were voting on, forgetting that if he was out of his seat, his vote doesn't count.

"I know better, I know you are not allowed to do that. You can't leave your seat in the middle of a vote, so someone on the other side objected and I had to scramble a little bit and 'brief' the speaker as to why I would get up," he said.

However, Martin said he was drawing on a real-life experience when he told his tall tale.

A recent sale at the Hudson's Bay Company caused Martin to buy up multiple pairs, without looking at the size.

“I went to both stores and cleaned them out, it was a great sale."

After the explanation was given, the House of Commons erupted in laughter, with Deputy Speaker Joe Comartin responding, "I've had no briefing on this type of uh ... motion," he said.

In the end, Comartin let the vote stand, noting Martin was at his seat when the motion was read.

"I hope a Member of Parliament never has to invoke the state of their underwear again in a parliamentary procedure. It could be a dangerous precedent."

kristin.annable@sunmedia.ca

Twitter: @kristinannable

PAT'S GREATEST HITS

Thursday wasn't the first time Pat Martin garnered headlines for something he said. A brief review:

LOST HIS FREAKING MIND?

"Mr. Speaker, my question is simple, and I ask it through you: Has the minister lost his freaking mind?" Martin said in the House of Commons on Dec. 4, 2014, in response to reports of a planned American corporate takeover of the Canadian Wheat Board.

ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE

Martin inquired about the federal government's zombie apocalypse strategy on Feb. 13, 2013, after the Quebec government did a emergency preparedness planning exercise based on that threat. "I don't need to tell you, Mr. Speaker, that zombies don't recognize borders," Martin said.

RAT-FACED WHORES

Martin pitched an online fit on Dec. 19, 2012, after he wasn't invited to a news conference in his Winnipeg Centre riding where the three levels of government announced funding for subsidized housing. "I'm not 'worked up' so much as 'fed up' with the rat-faced whores in the CPC who neglect to invite me to announcements in my riding," Martin wrote, calling the Tories "bad people" in another post and referencing details of Vic Toews' divorce. He quit Twitter the following day.

SALTY ENOUGH FOR YOU?

Martin freaked out on Twitter Nov. 17, 2011, after the Harper government shut down parliamentary debate on the federal budget. "This is a f---ing disgrace ... closure again. And on the budget! There's not a democracy in the world that would tolerate this jackboot s---." Martin tweeted on Nov 17, 2011 after the federal Tories closed down parliamentary debate on the federal budget. A tweeter responded by calling Martin a "foul-mouth socialist," to which the MP wrote back, "F--- you." He told another critic to "eat my shorts."

MORE THAN HE CAN CHEW

In October 2011, Martin suggested in the House of Commons that the dismantling of the Canadian Wheat Board's single-desk was akin to the Canadian beaver "biting off his own testicles."

BOLT CUTTERS

In June 2011, he told Parliament during a debate on Canada Post that "every kid on the street (in Winnipeg) has a bolt-cutter so he can steal bikes."

EVANGELICAL FUNDAMENTALISTS

Martin criticized the Harper government and city hall in February 2010 for giving money to the Youth for Christ to build a youth centre at the corner of Main Street and Higgins Avenue, suggesting the group is nothing more than a fundamentalist organization trying to recruit impressionable youth.