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Speakers who died while in office

by Maurice Y. Michaud (he/him)

Elmor Tilley Kennedy (1885–1953)
© Photo Legislative Assembly, New Brunswick — Public domain

The death of a sitting speaker has been almost as frequent as the death of a premier or prime minister, and has occurred in every province except Saskatchewan, Québec, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Perhaps oddly, in Nunavut, Canada’s newest territory, it has already occurred twice.

Elected by the other members of the legislature, speakers can be thought of as the chairperson and thus are the ones who “run the meeting” of the assembly. They themselves were usually elected to represent the gov­ern­ing party in the assembly, although there have been several instances in minority governments where an opposition member has been elected to the position. However, once elected, they must remain neutral, effectively eschewing their party allegiance, and they never vote during debates except if there is a tie, in which case they generally side with the government. As the legislature’s neutral arbiter, speakers also carry out ceremonial duties on behalf of the assembly.

All the speakers who died in office were men. Here they are, in chronological order.

CA BC AB SK MB ON QC NB NS PE NL YT NT NU NW ∑ 1 1 2 0 1 1 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 2 0 17
Who	Details
1 John Marshall (1807–1870)		1870 Nova Scotia Death date 25 October 1870 Age at death 63 years Party Nova Scotia Liberal Party
2 William Winram (1838–1891)		1891 Manitoba Death date 12 February 1891 Age at death 53 years 1 month Party Liberal Party of Manitoba
3 James Edgar (1841–1899)		1899 Canada Death date 31 July 1899 Age at death 57 years 11 months Party Liberal Party of Canada
4 John Booth (1837–1902)		1902 British Columbia Death date 25 February 1902 Age at death 64 years 2 months Party Government (B.C.)
5 Thomas Robertson (1852–1902)		1902 Nova Scotia Death date 19 April 1902 Age at death 49 years 7 months Party Nova Scotia Liberal Party
6 Joseph St. John (1854–1907)		1907 Ontario Death date 7 April 1907 Age at death 52 years 8 months Party Liberal-Conservative Party of Ontario
7 Albert Douglas (1860–1908)		1908 Prince Edward Island Death date 6 May 1908 Age at death 47 years 4 months Party Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island
8 Matthew Smith (1843–1909)		1909 Prince Edward Island Death date 1 March 1909 Age at death 65 years 7 months Party Liberal Party of Prince Edward Island
9 Walter Dickson (1847–1916)		1916 New Brunswick Death date 23 January 1916 Age at death 68 years Party Independent
10 Charles Fisher (1866–1919)		1919 Alberta Death date 5 May 1919 Age at death 52 years 9 months Party Liberal Party of Alberta
11 Lindsay Gardner (1875–1938)		1938 Nova Scotia Death date 23 August 1938 Age at death 62 years 7 months Party Nova Scotia Liberal Party
12 Elmor Kennedy (1885–1953)		1953 New Brunswick Death date 15 July 1953 Age at death 67 years 6 months Party Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
13 Walter Powers (1895–1954)		1954 New Brunswick Death date 8 November 1954 Age at death 59 years 3 months Party Progressive Conservative Party of New Brunswick
14 Peter Dawson (1892–1963)		1963 Alberta Death date 24 March 1963 Age at death 70 years 11 months Party Social Credit Party of Alberta
15 John McLean (1906–1964)		1964 Prince Edward Island Death date 9 October 1964 Age at death 58 years 9 months Party Progressive Conservative Party of Prince Edward Island
16 Jobie Nutarak (1947–2006)		2006 Nunavut Death date 22 April 2006 Age at death 58 years 11 months Party Independent
17 Joe Enook (1957–2019)		2019 Nunavut Death date 29 March 2019 Age at death 61 years Party Independent