Liberal Greg Fergus makes history, elected first Black House Speaker
CTV
Liberal MP Greg Fergus has been elected as the new Speaker of the House of Commons following a secret ranked ballot election on Tuesday. It is a day for the Canadian political history books as Fergus becomes the first Black Canadian to hold the prestigious role, in the wake of Parliament facing international headline-grabbing acrimony.
Liberal MP Greg Fergus has been elected as the new Speaker of the House of Commons following a secret ranked ballot election on Tuesday.
It is a day for the Canadian political history books as Fergus becomes Canada's 38th Speaker and the first Black Canadian to hold the prestigious role. Fergus takes on the job as MPs' impartial adjudicator after a time of international headline-grabbing acrimony.
"Respect is a fundamental part of what we do here. We need to make sure that we treat each other with respect, that we show Canadians the example, because there can be no dialogue unless there's a mutual understanding of respect," Fergus said in his first remarks from the Speaker's chair, following an hours-long election process.
"There can be no ability to pursue the arguments, to make your points be heard, unless we all agree to extend to each other that sense of respect and decorum," Fergus continued. "So I'm going to be working hard on this, and I need all of your help to make this happen. Because this is the place where hard debates will happen."
Fergus was first elected to the House in 2015, representing the National Capital Region riding of Hull-Aylmer, Que. Though, his experience in the Commons dates back decades, coming first in 1988 to work as a parliamentary page.
The extremely rare mid-session Speaker election occurred on account of Anthony Rota's resignation last week over his errant and embarrassing invitation and recognition of a man who fought alongside the Nazis in the Second World War during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's address to Parliament.
Fergus was one of seven MPs who were seeking the Speakership. The other contenders were Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes, Liberal MP Sean Casey, Liberal MP Peter Schiefke, Conservative MP Chris d'Entremont, NDP MP Carol Hughes and Green MP Elizabeth May.
