Three days later, Heseltine was one of around two dozen
Conservative MPs who defied the whip to abstain rather than vote
against the second reading of the 1968 Race Relations Bill (which banned racial
discrimination).
As a recent and unfortunate example, we recently observed a number of lawyers, i.e. the five
Conservative federal MPs who are lawyers in Ontario, along with Liberal MP Gagan Sikand, fail in their duty to promote equality, diversity and inclusiveness in their public life by voting
against or abstaining from voting in favour of M - 103, a a non-binding parliamentary motion condemning Islamophobia and religious
discrimination, thereby undermining public trust and confidence in the legal profession.