Rodolphe Lemieux

Rodolphe Lemieux

Rodolphe Lemieux PC KC (born November 1, 1866 in Montreal , Québec ; † September 28, 1937 ibid) was a Canadian lawyer and politician of the Liberal Party of Canada , who as a member of the lower house and senator for more than 41 years, member of parliament , minister in the 8th Canadian Cabinet of Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and between 1922 and 1930 as Speaker of the Lower House, President of the Second Chamber of Parliament. He was the first speaker to hold the chairmanship of the House of Commons for three consecutive legislative periods.

He ran in the election of December 17, 1917 for the so-called Laurier Liberals in both the Gaspé constituency and the Maisonneuve constituency . He was elected in both constituencies and also represented both constituencies, which was possible under the electoral law at the time, as a member of the lower house.

Life

Lawyer and Member of the House of Commons

After attending school, Lemieux completed a law degree at the University of Ottawa and the University of Laval , graduating first with a Bachelor of Civil Laws (BCL) and later with a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.). After being admitted to the bar, he worked as a lawyer , journalist and lecturer .

As a candidate for the Liberal Party, Lemieux was elected to the House of Commons for the first time in the general election on June 23, 1896 , where he initially represented the Gaspé constituency in Quebec .

On January 29, 1904, he was appointed Solicitor General by Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier and was thus chief legal advisor to the Canadian government until June 3, 1906. In this position, however, he was not a member of the cabinet.

In the general election on November 3, 1904 , he ran for both the Gaspé constituency and the Nicolet constituency , which was still possible under the electoral law at the time. After being elected in both constituencies, he decided to re- accept the lower house mandate for Gaspé .

Federal Minister, re-elections to the House of Commons and “double mandate” in 1917

During a government reshuffle on June 4, 1906, he was appointed Minister of Post and held this office until August 10, 1911. At the same time, he served as Minister of Labor between June 4, 1906 and May 18, 1909. During his membership in parliament he was between November 22, 1906 and April 27, 1907 chairman of a special committee dealing with a law on economic and cooperative societies.

After another cabinet reshuffle, he took over the offices of Minister for Maritime Affairs and Fisheries and Minister of the Navy on August 11, 1911, and held these ministerial posts until the end of Laurier's term on October 6, 1911.

After several re-elections in the Gaspé constituency , he ran again in the general election on September 21, 1911 in this constituency and in the Rouville constituency, which is also located in Québec . While he suffered an election defeat in Gaspé , he was now elected in Rouville .

Lemieux ran in the election of December 17, 1917 for the so-called Laurier Liberals both in the constituency of Gaspé and in the constituency of Maisonneuve . He was elected in both constituencies and represented them both, which was also possible under the electoral law at the time, as a member of the lower house. In the general election on December 6, 1921 , he was again elected for the Liberal Party in the Gaspé constituency and was a member of the House of Commons until June 3, 1930.

Speaker of the House of Commons 1922 to 1930 and Senator

On March 8, 1922, Lemieux succeeded Edgar Nelson Rhodes on the proposal of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, Speaker of the Lower House and thus President of the Second Chamber of the Canadian Parliament.

He had previously waived a cabinet post because he saw Ernest Lapointe, also from Québec, as a rival. However, his first election as Speaker of the House of Commons did not go smoothly. Although had opposition leader Arthur Meighen acknowledged that Lemieux was an excellent candidate with more than a quarter century of experience in the House. However, he strongly criticized King's announcement two months earlier that Lemieux would be elected spokesman, as if the prime minister had the right of appointment before nomination. On the other hand, he complained that it was Canadian practice to nominate the deputy spokesman as the successor to the previous speaker, although the opposition Conservative Party Meighens had not expressly requested this. As Speaker of the House of Commons, he was between February 28, 1924 and May 30, 1930 co-chair of the Joint Standing Parliamentary Committee for the Library and Restaurant of Parliament.

After the general election in 1925 and 1926 , Lemieux was re-elected as Speaker of the House. However, the then opposition leader Hugh Guthrie formally protested against the nomination of Lemieux in the 1926 spokesperson election, because this contradicted the practice since the beginning of the Canadian Confederation in 1867 , that the spokesperson alternated between French and English-speaking politicians. After an extensive debate, Lemieux was nonetheless re-elected, making him the first speaker to hold the chairmanship of the House of Commons for three consecutive legislative terms.

In 1926 he played a key role as speaker of parliament during the constitutional crisis known as the King Byng affair when Governor General Lord Byng of Vimy refused to comply with Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King's request and to dissolve parliament and call for a new election.

He held the office of Speaker of the House of Commons until June 2, 1930 and was then replaced by George Black .

After leaving the House of Commons, Lemieux was finally appointed a member of the Senate on June 3, 1930 at the suggestion of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, where he represented the Rougement Senate division in Québec until his death . When he died, he was a member of the Canadian Parliament for over 41 years.

Lemieux was married to a daughter of Louis-Amable Jetté , who was also a member of the House of Commons between 1872 and 1878.

Publications

• De la contrainte par corps , dissertation , Montréal 1896
• Wilfrid Laurier , Montréal 1897
• Les origines du droit franco-canadien , Montréal 1900

Web links and sources

• Rodolphe Lemieux - biographical information on the website of the Canadian Parliament (English)
• Entry as Speaker of the House of Commons
• Canadian Ministries at rulers.org