From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nelson Parliament was Speaker of the Legislature of Ontario from 1920 to 1923 and was first elected as a Liberal MLA for Prince Edward in the 1914 provincial election.
The United Farmers of Ontario won the 1919 general election with a caucus made up entirely of newcomers. Without any experienced member who could serve as Speaker, the new Premier, E.C. Drury, turned to the opposition benches and asked Parliament to take on the position. As a result, Parliament resigned from the Ontario Liberal Party and took the Speaker's chair as an Independent. While it is the practice in the British House of Commons for the Speaker to resign his or her party affiliation, Nelson Parliament is the only Speaker in the history of the Ontario legislature to shed his party affiliation.
[edit] External links
