Ottawa: Liberal MP from Lac-Saint-Louis Francis Scarpaleggia has been elected as the new Speaker of the House of Commons. The Speaker was chosen in a secret ranked ballot by other members of the House of Commons.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and interim Opposition leader Andrew Scheer escorted the Speaker to his chain in a traditional ceremony in the House of Commons.
Congratulating the newly elected Speaker, Prime Minister Mark Carney said, “Canadians look forward to your leadership in the Chamber.”
Considering the role of Speaker non-partisan, they do not sit in any party caucus, though they are elected to Parliament as a member of a party.
“I will remind members that we are at the beginning of a mandate in the selfish hope that you will afford me a little grace period,” Scarpaleggia said.
“Once again thank you for your confidence. I have few words, because well, we all have things we want to accomplish and we have been away. Thank you, colleagues.”
Prime Minister Carney spoke in the House for the first time after being elected to the top post. He thanked voters and members of the house.
“I have much to learn from the members of this great House,” Carney said. “I will make mistakes. I have no doubt that you will call them out for good reason, because this House has rules, it has traditions and it’s on those traditions that our Athenian democracy is founded,” he said.
Before the beginning of proceedings in the House on Monday, two Conservative candidates for the post of the Speaker – Chris d’Entremont and John Nater – withdrew their names, leaving five candidates in the race.
Besides Scarpaleggia, Sean Casey, (Charlottetown), Rob Oliphant (Don Valley West), Alexandra Mendès (Brossard-Saint-Lambert), Sherry Romanado (Longueuil-Charles-LeMoyne) and Greg Fergus.
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