Liberal MP Peter Milliken has once again been elected as Speaker of the House, beating out seven other candidates after five ballots of secret voting.
Following tradition, Milliken pretended to struggle as he was dragged to his seat by two MPs -- Liberal Leader Stephane Dion and Prime Minister Stephen Harper, who grinned as they each took hold of an arm.
The custom is a nod to how dangerous the position once was, when Speakers in Britain faced execution if they brought the King bad news.
Dion congratulated Milliken on winning the position, and said the role is crucial to making Parliament effective.
"The Speaker's role is vital. It requires not only overseeing proceedings in the chamber, but ensuring the esteemed reputation of the House and its Members is respected," Dion said in a statement Tuesday.
"We look forward to working with Mr. Milliken to ensure the proceedings and decorum of the House reflect the high standards which Canadians expect of their elected Members of Parliament."
Milliken has been House Speaker since 2001. But because MPs on all sides have promised a more conciliatory tone in the new session of Parliament, there was speculation Milliken would be voted out. He is considered knowledgeable about parliamentary rules, but as a rather soft referee when it comes to enforcing them.
Speaking on Mike Duffy Live, Milliken said minority governments tend to have far more raucous sessions than majority governments.
"Everyone wants to move to different positions in the polls, so the incentive to be more partisan than less is stronger," he said.
After winning his position, Milliken told Parliament he was looking forward to more civil debate.
"I hope that we can arrange to make the chamber more orderly, and I know that the new members will urge their noisier colleagues to tone things down so that we can have a quieter and more productive chamber," Milliken said.
Tough competition
The lone NDP contender, Joe Comartin, dropped out of the race after the fourth ballot. That had left Milliken to face off against Conservatives Andrew Scheer and Mervin Tweed in the fifth and final ballot.
At the start of voting, candidates in the running were:
- Milliken, who represents Kingston and the Islands
- Liberal Mauril Belanger (Ottawa-Vanier)
- Conservative MP Barry Devolin
- Conservative MP Andrew Scheer (Regina-Qu'Appelle)
- Conservative MP Merv Tweed (Brandon-Souris)
- Conservative MP Rob Anders (Calgary West)
- Conservative MP Royal Galipeau (Ottawa-Orleans)
- Comartin (Windsor-Tecumseh)
Before being dropped from the race, Comartin had said the decorum has steadily deteriorated in the House, especially during the last session.
"Faced with the economic crisis we just don't have the luxury anymore to play those stupid games in there and to be as disruptive," Comartin told 麻豆影视net on Tuesday.
"That Parliament has to be as effective and as efficient as possible so we have to bring decorum under control."
The position comes with many perks including a:
- Gatineau home
- Parliamentary apartment
- car and driver
- generous travel budget
Change of tone
Now that the Speaker of the House has been chosen, Parliament will begin tackling issue number one -- the economy.
The Globe and Mail's Lawrence Martin said Tuesday that Prime Minister Stephen Harper has been reaching out across party lines since his Oct. 14 victory.
As part of that effort, Harper has met with Liberal Leader Stephane Dion, NDP Leader Jack Layton and Gilles Duceppe of the Bloc Quebecois.
"He's showing more of a tendency to build a consensus this time, to be less confrontational, to get above the petty stuff that dominated Parliament in its first term and move things to a higher level of co-operation given the global economic crisis," Martin told CTV's Canada AM on Tuesday.
CTV's Graham Richardson said Tuesday that the economy has swamped everything.
"When people are worried about the value of their home, partisan political cheap shots take on a different tone," he said.
Jay Hill, the Conservative House leader, said he has met with other party House leaders ahead of Tuesday's session.
"There seems to be a consensus that we want to be very serious in how we approach everything that flows from the economic instability facing our nation and indeed facing the planet right now," said Hill, the veteran MP for Prince George-Peace River.
The Liberals, with Dion as a lame-duck leader, aren't likely to push too hard in Parliament, Martin said.
"Because of the Liberal leadership contest which is going to go on for five or six months you won't have an opposition which is threatening to bring down the government or to be overly obstructionist," he said.
With files from The Canadian Press
