Robert Franklin Sutherland, (April 5, 1859 – May 23, 1922) was a

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politician and

Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada The speaker of the House of Commons () is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. A member of Parliament (MP), a speaker is elected at the beginning of each new parliament by fellow MPs. The speaker's role in pre ...

from 1905 to 1909, noted for his fine speaking ability and strong temperament. Sutherland was first elected to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada () is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Monarchy of Canada#Parliament (King-in-Parliament), Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the Bicameralism, bicameral legislature of Ca ...

as a Liberal Member of Parliament for Essex North in the 1900 election. He was re-elected in the

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and

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. He was born in Newmarket in

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in 1859. After studies at the

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and

University of Western Ontario The University of Western Ontario (UWO; branded as Western University) is a Public university, public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thame ...

, Sutherland began his career as a lawyer in

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. He was a member of the

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, and first ran for a seat in the House of Commons of Canada in 1900 and was elected. During the campaign in a riding with a large

francophone The Francophonie or Francophone world is the whole body of people and organisations around the world who use the French language regularly for private or public purposes. The term was coined by Onésime Reclus in 1880 and became important a ...

and

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population, he was accused of having been a member of the anti-Catholic Protestant Protective Association. While he admitted having attended a meeting out of curiosity, he insisted that he refused to join the group upon learning of its anti-Catholic views. Once elected, he concentrated on constituency issues and obtaining grants for his riding. By the time of the next general election in 1904, Sutherland had learned some French and was able to campaign in the language. Following the election, he was nominated by Sir

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier (November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and Liberal politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadians, French ...

to become Speaker of the House, and was the first anglophone Speaker to give part of his acceptance speech in French. Laurier offered to renominate Sutherland for the Speakership following the 1908 election, but he declined, and was appointed the next year to a seat on Ontario's High Court. He became a respected

judge A judge is a person who wiktionary:preside, presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a judicial panel. In an adversarial system, the judge hears all the witnesses and any other Evidence (law), evidence presented by the barris ...

and mediator. He was later appointed to chair a

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in Ontario to investigate a proposal by Sir Adam Beck to establish a network of radial lines (that is, a system of inter-city

streetcar A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...

lines). Sutherland's report argued against the scheme and it was not implemented.

References

External links

*
Robert Franklin Sutherland fonds
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutherland, Robert Franklin 1859 births 1922 deaths Canadian people of Scottish descent Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada University of Western Ontario alumni University of Toronto alumni Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Ontario Liberal Party of Canada MPs Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from Newmarket, Ontario 20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada