Geoff Regan
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Geoffrey Paul Regan (born 22 November 1959) is a former Canadian politician who served as the 36th
Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada The speaker of the House of Commons (french: président de la Chambre des communes) is the presiding officer of the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. A member of Parliament (MP), they are elected at the beginning of each new parliament b ...
from 2015 to 2019. A member of the
Liberal Party of Canada The Liberal Party of Canada (french: Parti libéral du Canada, region=CA) is a federal political party in Canada. The party espouses the principles of liberalism,McCall, Christina; Stephen Clarkson"Liberal Party". ''The Canadian Encyclopedia'' ...
, he was the
Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...
(MP) for
Halifax West Halifax West (french: Halifax-Ouest) is a federal electoral district in Nova Scotia, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1979. Its population in 2021 was 111,944. Demographics ''From the 2016 census'' E ...
2000 to 2021, previously holding the seat from 1993 to 1997. Under
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...
, he was
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans The minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for supervising the fishing industry, administrating all navigable waterways in the country, and overseeing the o ...
from 2003 to 2006.


Early life and career

Regan was born in
Windsor, Nova Scotia Windsor is a community located in Hants County, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a service centre for the western part of the county and is situated on Highway 101. The community has a history dating back to its use by the Mi'kmaq Nation for sev ...
. Regan is the son of
Gerald Regan Gerald Augustine Paul Regan (February 13, 1928 – November 26, 2019) was a Canadian politician (as Member of Parliament (Canada), federal MP and later as Nova Scotia House of Assembly, Nova Scotia MLA), who served as the 19th premier of Nova Sc ...
, a former
Premier of Nova Scotia The premier of Nova Scotia is the first minister to the lieutenant governor of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia and presides over the Executive Council of Nova Scotia. Following the Westminster system, the premier is normally the leader of ...
and Cabinet Minister under
Pierre Trudeau Joseph Philippe Pierre Yves Elliott Trudeau ( , ; October 18, 1919 – September 28, 2000), also referred to by his initials PET, was a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada The prime mini ...
, and Carole Harrison, the daughter of
John Harrison John Harrison ( – 24 March 1776) was a self-educated English Carpentry, carpenter and clockmaker who invented the marine chronometer, a long-sought-after device for solving the History of longitude, problem of calculating longitude while at s ...
, a Member of Parliament from Saskatchewan. Two of his sisters are also well-known:
Nancy Regan Nancy Margaret Regan (born March 20, 1966) is a Canadian actress, journalist, news anchor, and television personality, most known for her fifteen-year tenure as host of CTV's Live at 5, a live news and general interest television program reachi ...
was a well-known local television personality with ATV, Laura Regan is an actress. Regan graduated from
Sackville High School Sackville High School is a Canadian public high school located in Lower Sackville, a suburban community of the Halifax Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It is operated by the Halifax Regional Centre for Education (HRCE). Sackville Hig ...
in 1977 and then earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from
St. Francis Xavier University St. Francis Xavier University is a public undergraduate liberal arts university located in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is a member of the Maple League, a group of primarily undergraduate universities in Eastern Canada. History St. Franc ...
in 1980. Following university, Regan went on to earn a law degree from
Dalhousie University Dalhousie University (commonly known as Dal) is a large public research university in Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the fou ...
, graduating in 1983. He was admitted to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society in 1984 and practiced real estate and commercial law before entering public life. Regan was a member of
Toastmasters Toastmasters International (TI) is a US-headquartered nonprofit educational organization that operates clubs worldwide for the purpose of promoting communication, public speaking, and leadership. History The organization grew out of a single c ...
for almost ten years, in the late 1980s to early 1990s.


Federal politics

Regan was first elected to the House of Commons as part of the Liberal landslide victory in the 1993 federal election under
Jean Chrétien Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien (; born January 11, 1934) is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 20th prime minister of Canada from 1993 to 2003. Born and raised in Shawinigan Falls, Quebec, Chrétien is a law graduate from Uni ...
. He was defeated in the 1997 election by
NDP NDP may stand for: Computing * Neighbor Discovery Protocol, an Internet protocol * Nortel Discovery Protocol, a layer two Internet protocol, also called SONMP * Nondeterministic programming, a type of computer language Government * National ...
candidate
Gordon Earle Gordon S. Earle (born February 27, 1943) is a Canadian politician. Earle is a member of the New Democratic Party and a former member of the House of Commons of Canada, representing the riding of Halifax West from 1997 to 2000. Earle is the f ...
, mainly because of the federal government's changes to employment insurance. After regaining his seat in the 2000 federal election, Regan was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the
Leader of the Government in the House of Commons The leader of the government in the House of Commons (), more commonly known as the government house leader, is the Cabinet minister responsible for planning and managing the government's legislative program in the House of Commons of Canada. ...
, a position then held by
Don Boudria Donald Boudria, (born August 30, 1949) is a former Canadian politician. He served in the House of Commons of Canada from 1984 to 2005 as a member of the Liberal Party of Canada, and was a cabinet minister in the government of Jean Chrétien ...
. In 2003, Paul Martin appointed him as
Minister of Fisheries and Oceans The minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard () is the minister of the Crown in the Canadian Cabinet responsible for supervising the fishing industry, administrating all navigable waterways in the country, and overseeing the o ...
. Regan was the Regional Minister for Nova Scotia in the newly formed government of
Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...
, sworn in on 12 December 2003. Regan was re-elected in the 2004 federal election. He would keep position in cabinet in Martin’s minority government. In February 2004, Regan was appointed to act as
Minister of Justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
and Attorney General of Canada, in matters related to
Maher Arar Maher Arar ( ar, ماهر عرار) (born 1970) is a telecommunications engineer with dual Syrian and Canadian citizenship who has resided in Canada since 1987. Arar was detained during a layover at John F. Kennedy International Airport in Septem ...
.


In opposition

Upon the defeat of the Liberal government in the 2006 election, he was appointed by Bill Graham, Interim Leader of the Official Opposition, to the shadow cabinet as the Official Opposition Critic for Human Resources and Skills Development. During his time as critic, Regan introduced a private members’ bill to expand Canada Access Grants for disabled and low income students. In January 2007, he was appointed to the newly created Liberal Priorities and Planning Committee, which was chaired by then Liberal Opposition Leader
Stéphane Dion Stéphane Maurice Dion (born 28 September 1955) is a Canadian diplomat, academic and former politician who has been the Canadian ambassador to France and Monaco since 2022 and special envoy to the European Union since 2017. Dion was Leader of ...
. In March 2008, Regan was named Chair of the Caucus Committee on Environmental Sustainability. Regan also served as Vice-Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development. Regan was re-elected in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
, and 2011 federal elections, despite significant Liberal losses in both. Regan won his seat by a few percentage points in the latter election as the Liberals finished in third place. Under the leadership of Stephane Dion, Regan served as Opposition Critic for Human Resources and Skills Development. Under
Michael Ignatieff Michael Grant Ignatieff (; born May 12, 1947) is a Canadian author, academic and former politician who served as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada and Leader of the Official Opposition from 2008 until 2011. Known for his work as a histo ...
, Regan served as Liberal Critic for Natural Resources, and later, Public Works and Government Services and also as the Liberal Natural Resources Critic under leader
Justin Trudeau Justin Pierre James Trudeau ( , ; born December 25, 1971) is a Canadian politician who is the 23rd and current prime minister of Canada. He has served as the prime minister of Canada since 2015 and as the leader of the Liberal Party since 2 ...
and the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources.


Speaker of the House of Commons

Regan was re-elected in the 2015 federal election with 68% of the vote as the Liberal party swept all 32
Atlantic Canada Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...
seats and formed a majority government. On 2 December 2015, Regan was selected as
Speaker of the House of Commons Speaker of the House of Commons is a political leadership position found in countries that have a House of Commons, where the membership of the body elects a speaker to lead its proceedings. Systems that have such a position include: * Speaker of ...
in secret ballot by members of the 42nd Parliament over Liberals
Denis Paradis Denis Paradis (born April 1, 1949) is a Canadian politician and lawyer who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brome—Missisquoi from 2015 until 2019 and previously from 1995 to 2006. A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Paradis ...
and
Yasmin Ratansi Yasmin Ratansi (born January 4, 1951) is a Canadian politician who represented the Toronto area riding of Don Valley East in the House of Commons from 2004 to 2011 and again from 2015 to 2021. She was elected as a Liberal in the 2004 federal ele ...
and Conservative
Bruce Stanton Ronald Bruce Stanton (born December 20, 1957) is a Canadian politician who served as Member of Parliament for the riding of Simcoe North from 2006 to 2021. Stanton first ran as a member of the Conservative Party in the 2006 federal election an ...
. Regan won on the first ballot and served as the first speaker from Atlantic Canada in almost a hundred years. In December 2019, he ran for re-election for Speaker of the Commons but lost to fellow Liberal MP
Anthony Rota Anthony Michael Gerard Rota (born May 15, 1961) is a Canadian politician who is the 37th and current speaker of the House of Commons of Canada since 2019. A member of the Liberal Party, he currently serves as the member of Parliament (MP) for ...
. Following Rota's win, the
Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...
said that he had them to thank for his new position. They had made the decision during a caucus meeting to unseat Regan as a show of strength to the Liberal minority government. On March 31, 2021, Regan announced that he would not seek re-election.


Awards and Honours

* Metro Food Bank Society Community Leadership Award (1992) * Halifax Board of Trade Certificate of Merit (1992) * Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal (2002) * Appointed member of the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada (2003) * Elisabeth Mann Borgese Medal (2005) The International Ocean Institute awarded Regan then Minister of Fisheries and Oceans for his "exemplary leadership in the field of Ocean Governance." * Lebanese Community Recognition Award (2008) * Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal (2012) * Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal (2022)


Personal life

Regan's wife,
Kelly Regan Kelly Maureen Regan (née Smith) MLA (born 4 February 1961) is a Canadian politician who has served in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly since 2009, most recently as the MLA for Bedford Basin. She was first elected as the Member for Bedford-Bi ...
, is a provincial MLA and former Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia.


Electoral record


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Regan, Geoff 1959 births Canadian people of Irish descent Dalhousie University alumni Living people Members of the 27th Canadian Ministry Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Nova Scotia Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada Liberal Party of Canada MPs People from Windsor, Nova Scotia Geoff St. Francis Xavier University alumni Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada