Lucien Lamoureux Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Lucien Lamoureux (August 3 1920 - July 16 1998) was a Canadian politician and Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons from 1966 to 1974.After graduating with a law degree from Osgoode Hall in 1945, Lamoureux went to work as a political aide to Lionel Chevrier, a Canadian Cabinet minister in the government of William Lyon Mackenzie King. In 1954, he left Chevrier's office to establish a law practice in Cornwall, Ontario.
Lamoureux was first elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1962 Canadian election as a Liberal MP. In 1963, he became Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons and decided to stop attending meetings of the Liberal caucus in order to maintain impartiality. Following the 1965 Canadian election, Prime Minister Lester Pearson nominated him to the position of Speaker of the House of Commons.
Lamoureux served as speaker during two minority governments, 1965-1968 and 1972-1974, experiences which required him to maintain authority and neutrality in a situation where no party had control of the House.
In the 1968 Canadian election, he decided to follow the custom of the Speaker of the British House of Commons and stand for election as an Independent. Both the Liberal Party and the Progressive Conservatives agreed not to run candidates against him. The New Democratic Party of Canada, however, declined to withdraw their candidate. Lamoureux was re-elected and continued to serve as Speaker.
In the 1972 Canadian election, Lamoureux again ran as an Independent, this time both the Tories and the NDP ran candidates against him as they were unwilling to deny voters the opportunity to vote for their parites. Lamoureux won re-election by a margin of 5,000 votes. Without all party agreement to not run against sitting Speakers in general elections, however, Lamoureux's wish for Canada to follow the British precedent was doomed and future Speakers would not repeat his attempt to run as an Independent.
In April 1974, Lamoureux became the longest serving Speaker in the history of the Canadian House of Commons surpassing the record set by Rodolphe Lemieux. In September 1974, Lamoureux announced that he would not run in the 1974 Canadian election and retired from Parlaiment. He was appointed Canadian Ambassador to Belgium following the election.
| Preceded by: Alan Macnaughton 1963-1966 | Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons 1966-1974 | Followed by: James Alexander Jerome 1974-1979 |
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