Parliament's new speaker says Canada must be ‘Athens' to America's ‘Rome'

OTTAWA — Members of the House of Commons chose veteran Montreal-area MP Francis Scarpaleggia as their new speaker on Monday, rejecting his predecessor Greg Fergus amidst appeals for a more respectful tone and allusions to ancient Greece in the opening act of Canada's new minority Parliament.
First elected in 2004, the 67-year-old MP thanked the chamber for the honour of choosing him to oversee proceedings in the 45th Parliament. Having argued in his speech before the Speaker's vote that Canada must set an example as a strong democracy in a tumultuous world, Scarpaleggia was elected Speaker of the House of Commons with a new Liberal minority government elected on April 28.

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