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Ajit Jain India Abroad Correspondent in Toronto
The Canadian Alliance Member of Parliament Rob Andres, who last week blocked a move to grant honorary Canadian citizenship to South African leader Nelson Mandela, stayed away from the House of Commons on June 12 when the motion was moved the second time by ruling Liberal Party MP John McCallum.
Only 29 of 301 parliamentarians were present in the House during the debate.
To the relief of Canadian parliamentarians the motion was adopted as the defeat of the motion last week because of a single dissenter had caused a great deal of embarrassment to the Canadian government.
On behalf of the Canadian Alliance, the olive branch was offered by Indo-Canadian lawmaker Deepak Obhrai who delivered a tribute to Mandela.
"I think it is quite obvious that this is Mr Anders's personal view, not of the party," he said. "I would have preferred that he not have said that. But what he said is up to him. It does not reflect my views."
McCallum, who moved the motion, said: "The more one learns about Nelson Mandela, the more one realises that one is not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under his table."
He joked about Anders's absence from the House suggesting that the Alliance caucus may have detained him.
Obhrai said he was born in Tanzania was "no stranger to life in a society where there are racial strains and tensions. Thankfully, we are free to debate the granting of honorary Canadian citizenship to one of the great figures in recent history in a chamber where there are no racial strains or tensions," he said.
Some South African diplomats in Ottawa and the speaker of the South African National Assembly were present in the public gallery when the motion was discussed.
The motion will now go to the Senate and, if it is approved, Mandela is expected to accept the honorary citizenship when he visits Canada in September on what is slated to be his last overseas visit.
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