Andrew Scheer

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Andrew Scheer bigraphy, stories - 35th Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons and MP for Regina—Qu'Appelle

Andrew Scheer : biography

May 20, 1979 –

Andrew Scheer (born May 20, 1979) is a Canadian Member of Parliament (MP) and the Speaker of the House of Commons. At age 32, he became the youngest person to serve in this capacity in Canadian parliamentarian history.

Entrance to elected politics

Scheer was elected as a Conservative candidate in the 2004 elections in the riding of Regina—Qu’Appelle, beating veteran New Democratic Party MP Lorne Nystrom by 861 votes. He was re-elected in the 2006 elections, once again defeating Nystrom – this time by a margin of 2,740 votes.

In April 2006, Scheer was named Assistant Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole, one of three deputy speakers and one of the youngest Members of Parliament to serve in that role in Commonwealth history. On November 21, 2008, he was named Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons & Chairman of Committees of the Whole,, November 21, 2008. succeeding New Democrat MP Bill Blaikie.

Speaker of the House of Commons

When the Conservative Party won a majority at the 2011 federal election, Scheer’s experience as Deputy Speaker led many to consider him the front-runner to be elected Speaker of the House of Commons. On June 2, 2011, he defeated Denise Savoie of the NDP in the sixth round of balloting, making him the youngest Speaker of the House in Canadian history and the first speaker from Saskatchewan.

Family

Andrew Scheer is married to Jill. They have four children: Thomas, Grace, Madeline and Henry.

Early life and career

Scheer was born in Ottawa, Ontario. He graduated from Immaculata High School and studied history and politics at the University of Ottawa. While attending university, Scheer worked in the correspondence department of the Office of the Leader of the Opposition (OLO). He moved to Regina after meeting his future wife Jill in university and finished his BA at the University of Saskatchewan. Instead of returning to Ottawa, Scheer worked at Shenher Insurance for six months before joining the constituency office of Canadian Alliance MP Larry Spencer in Regina—Lumsden—Lake Centre.