James Alexander Jerome, (March 4, 1933 – August 21, 2005) was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

jurist and former

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, a ...

and

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 ...

Life and career

After receiving his law degree from

Osgoode Hall Osgoode Hall is a landmark building in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The original -storey building was started in 1829 and finished in 1832 from a design by John Ewart and William Warren Baldwin. The structure is named for William Osgoode, ...

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, Jerome began his law practice in Sudbury,

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. In 1966, he won a seat on Sudbury's city council and, the next year, attempted to win election to the

House of Commons of Canada The House of Commons of Canada (french: Chambre des communes du Canada) is the lower house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the Senate of Canada, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The House of Common ...

in a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

but was defeated. He took the seat in the 1968 general election, however, and became the

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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 the Sudbury riding. After the 1972 election, Jerome became Chairman of the Standing Committee on Justice and Legal Affairs. Since there was a

minority government A minority government, minority cabinet, minority administration, or a minority parliament is a government and Cabinet (government), cabinet formed in a parliamentary system when a political party or Coalition government, coalition of parties do ...

in place, the opposition had a majority of members on the Committee and he had to remain impartial and balance the wishes of all parties in order to win approval for legislation. His success in this role led

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

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 ...

to appoint him as Speaker of the House of Commons following the 1974 election. In the 1979 election, Jerome considered following the precedent set by his predecessor,

Lucien Lamoureux Lucien Lamoureux, (August 3, 1920 – July 16, 1998) was a Canadian politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada from 1966 to 1974. He is the second longest-serving occupant of that office. After graduating with a law degree f ...

, by running as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

as is the custom of the Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. He decided to run as a Liberal, however, and was re-elected. The Progressive Conservative Party formed a

under

Joe Clark Charles Joseph Clark (born June 5, 1939) is a Canadian statesman, businessman, writer, and politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Canada from 1979 to 1980. Despite his relative inexperience, Clark rose quickly in federal polit ...

's leadership. Despite the change in government, they decided to keep Jerome as Speaker. After the Clark government was defeated in a

motion of no confidence A motion of no confidence, also variously called a vote of no confidence, no-confidence motion, motion of confidence, or vote of confidence, is a statement or vote about whether a person in a position of responsibility like in government or mana ...

in December 1979, Jerome decided not to run in the ensuing general election. In January 1980, Clark appointed him Associate Chief Justice of the Federal Court in Ottawa. He remained in this position until his retirement in 1998.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jerome, James 1933 births 2005 deaths Judges of the Federal Court of Canada Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada People from Kingston, Ontario Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada Sudbury, Ontario city councillors