Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia Elected as New House Speaker

Veteran Liberal MP Francis Scarpaleggia has been elected as House Speaker in the first procedure of the new House of Commons.

MPs chose Scarpaleggia in a secret ranked ballot on May 26, the first sitting day of the new Parliament. Scarpaleggia is an MP from the Montreal area who was first elected to the House in 2004. He has chaired committees but was never appointed parliamentary secretary or minister.

Scarpaleggia is replacing in the role Liberal MP Greg Fergus, who had a tumultuous term and failed in his bid to get re-elected.

Scarpaleggia acknowledged Fergus in his acceptance speech and noted he had taken the role at a “difficult moment, at the end of a mandate when things tend to get a little feistier.”

“I would remind members that we are at the beginning of a mandate in the selfish hope that you will afford me a little grace period,” he told MPs in the House of Commons.

Only Liberal MPs had appeared on the final ballot, with Tory MPs Chris d‘Entremont and John Nater pulling out of the race without explanation before pronouncing their candidacy speeches in the House on May 26. D’Entremont had served as deputy Speaker in the previous Parliament.

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The other candidates running included Prince Edward Island MP Sean Casey, Quebec MPs Alexandra Mendès and Sherry Romanado, and Toronto MP Robert Oliphant. Mendès had previously served as assistant deputy Speaker.

The role of the Speaker is to apply the procedures of the House, maintain order, and defend the rights and privileges of MPs. The Speaker is expected to be politically neutral in the role to the greatest extent. The Speaker also chairs the group which oversees the administration and finances of the Commons.

The position comes with a $100,000 pay bump, a driver, and an official residence known as the Farm, a four-acre property located in Gatineau Park.

As is customary, Prime Minister Mark Carney and Leader of the Opposition Andrew Scheer dragged Scarpaleggia from the House floor to the Speaker’s chair. The tradition reflects the Middle Ages when the king could put the Speaker to death for voicing the Commons’ unwelcome stance, making the role quite risky.

“I have much to learn from the members of this great House,” Carney said after Scarpaleggia took his chair. “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.”

“We are Athens. They are Rome,” Carney added echoing what Scarpaleggia had said in his candidacy speech. Scarpaleggia had said that the United States may be modern Rome in “size and power,” but Canada is Athens in “culture, values, and democracy.”

In his speech before the vote, Scarpaleggia leaned on his experience, saying he spent 10 years in the opposition and 10 years in government. He said this has prepared him for the “challenge of finding the right balance between respect and order on the one hand, and vigorous debate that clarifies the issues on the other.”

In his speech welcoming Scarpaleggia to his new role, Scheer asked him to let MPs have “lively” and “passionate” debates, saying the House is where the government is held to account.

He was replaced by Fergus, who faced several calls to step down including an unsuccessful vote in the House in May 2024.

Conservatives tabled a motion accusing Fergus of “ongoing and repetitive partisan conduct outside of the Chamber.” The motion was defeated with the Liberals and NDP voting against it.

This was the third call made by the Tories to have Fergus step down. It came after the Liberal Party had advertised an event with Fergus which used criticism of Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in the promotional material. His office said the riding association was responsible for the ad and not Fergus. The Liberal Party subsequently apologized to Fergus.

Fergus oversaw a heated Commons at times and he had several disputes with Tory MPs. He expelled Poilievre in April 2024 for his refusal to withdraw his comments that former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his drug policy were “wacko.”

While there was some tension with the Opposition, Fergus also made a ruling in the fall that had a significant impact on House proceedings and allowed an Opposition filibuster.

The House ordered the production of documents related to the federal green fund, Sustainable Development Technology Canada, after it was found by the auditor general to be rife with conflicts of interest, with board directors giving taxpayer dollars to their own companies.

With the government not providing a full disclosure, Fergus ruled it amounted to a prima facie case of privilege. Conservatives followed with a motion to refer the matter to a House committee which ended up being debated for days on end. This effectively ground House business to a halt, with no bills being passed.

Rota during his tenure had also challenged the Liberal government, again around a House order for the production of documents. This time it was for the Winnipeg lab documents relating to the firing of two Chinese scientists on security grounds. The government took Rota to court to avoid the disclosure before Parliament was dissolved.

The new Speaker Scarpaleggia will again oversee House matters in a minority government, albeit a stronger one. Liberals have 169 seats, three seats shy of a majority. Conservatives are also stronger with 144 seats, while the balance of power will again reside with the NDP and Bloc Québécois. Each party has lost many seats, and the NDP also lost its official party status.

The election of the Speaker was the only item on the agenda for the first day of the new Parliament. The Royals arrived in Canada on May 26 and King Charles III will read the speech from the throne on May 27 to outline the new Liberal government’s agenda.