New Speaker Francis Scarpaleggia hopes he doesn't have to give anyone a game misconduct

Montreal Gazette

21 hours ago

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Sitting in his stately office just down the corridor from the Chamber of the House of Commons, where he has to keep the sometimes rowdy MPs in order, the new Speaker of the House used a hockey analogy to describe his job.
'You're not seeking to give a penalty or a game misconduct,' said Francis Scarpaleggia, who was elected Speaker on May 26, the first day of the new Parliament. 'That's not what you're looking to do.'
Scarpaleggia, who lives in Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, has been the member of Parliament for the West Island riding of Lac-Saint-Louis since 2004. In the last session of Parliament, debates and question period became increasingly acrimonious, with heated fights between former prime minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre. Previous speaker Greg Fergus kicked Poilievre out of the Commons in April 2024 after the head of the Conservatives called Trudeau 'wacko' for supporting British Columbia's past policy of decriminalizing some hard drugs.
In an interview last week, his second week on the job as Speaker, Scarpaleggia said so far the verbal sparring in question period has been relatively polite. A couple of hours later during question period, there was some energetic back-and-forth between the Liberals and both the Conservatives and the Bloc Québécois, with the opposition parties criticizing Prime Minister Mark Carney for failing to make a deal with U.S. President Donald Trump on tariffs and not doing enough about inflation. But no one called Carney a wacko.
'The trick is to find that fine line between maintaining order and allowing enough latitude to the opposition to express themselves,' Scarpaleggia said. 'Of course that line changes depending on the mood of the House on any given day. But we're at the start of a mandate and things so far have been going well.'
The Speaker's job doesn't just involve keeping the MPs in the chamber in line. They are also the liaison between Parliament and the Crown, which is why Scarpaleggia introduced King Charles before the monarch gave the Throne Speech last month. He also has to wear that unusual-looking hat and leads what is called a parade to open each day's Parliamentary session. The position also has a diplomatic side that involves the Speaker liaising with ambassadors and embassies representing other countries. He is also in charge of the administration and finances of the House of Commons.
When we spoke, Scarpaleggia was still getting used to the job.
'Second week in the role, so every day is a learning experience,' Scarpaleggia said. 'But I've been watching Speakers perform their duties for 20 years.'
The Speaker is elected by a secret ballot. There were six candidates, all Liberal, after the two Conservative candidates, Chris d'Entremont and John Nater, dropped out of the running.
There is an informal campaign leading up to the vote.
'You do have lots of conversations with colleagues from all sides of the House before,' Scarpaleggia said. 'You make lots of phone calls.'
A tradition that the prime minister and leader of the opposition pull the Speaker to the chair on his or her first day resulted in a funny photo of Carney and interim opposition leader Andrew Scheer dragging him to his chair.
'That goes back apparently many centuries ... when the King was still very powerful and even though he granted rights to the Commons, the Speaker, as representative of the Commons, could incur the wrath of the King, with a fatal end,' said Scarpaleggia. 'So when the Throne Speech is read … (the Speaker) reads a statement to the Governor General, or in this case the King, where he or she says basically, 'If you're displeased with something, it's not the fault of my fellow members of Parliament, I take the blame.' So you can understand that many centuries ago, it was a risky job, which is why they had to drag the person into it. Obviously it's done as performance. The tradition is to be dragged in and to pretend to resist.'
Scarpaleggia, 68, receives an extra $99,900 to serve as Speaker, in addition to his salary of $209,800 as MP. He gets an apartment in the West Block and has an official estate in Gatineau Park, known as The Farm. It is used for hosting foreign dignitaries. His wife, Jan Ramsay, spends more time in Ottawa with him, because their two daughters are in their mid-20s.
He was national caucus chairman for the Liberals from 2011 to 2021 and he has chaired many Commons committees over the years.
As Speaker, he has to be non-partisan. He can't criticize the government or the opposition. He no longer votes in the Commons unless there's a tie, in which case he casts the tie-breaking vote. This is a minority Liberal government, with 169 MPs, three shy of a majority. If there was ever a tie in a vote of confidence, Scarpaleggia said he would have to vote to keep the government in power.
'The Speaker wouldn't vote to cause an election,' he said.
Scarpleggia went to Loyola High School, then Marianopolis College before receiving a B.A., honours, in economics from McGill. He also has degrees from Columbia and Concordia.
He was legislative assistant to MP Clifford Lincoln from 1994 to 2004. Lincoln, 96, was at Scarpaleggia's riding office on election night and remains a close friend.
Scarpaleggia is a passionate music fan who still sees lots of shows.
'I like it all. I like it when it's fresh and innovative. I like a Jack White quite a lot. That might come as a surprise. I saw him at Place Bell a few years back. One of the first albums that my father bought me when I was very young, at 11 or maybe 12, (was) The Band album, the second one, and I wore that thing out.'
When asked for his favourite artist of all time, he jokes that given his Speaker's job 'impartiality requires me not to choose between the Beatles and the Rolling Stones.'