Liberal MP Anthony Rota was re-elected on Monday as Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, a position he has held since 2019.
Rota was walked up—while pretending to be dragged up against his will, as is tradition—by Conservative leader O'Toole and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to a loud applause from all parties.
"Thank you," said Rota. "I am very honoured to be up here. Both politically, and personally, this is something I know I will treasure for the rest of my life and, I guess, one of the good things about being speaker is, I probably upset both sides equally, so I appreciate you working this out," Rota joked.
Hon. @AnthonyRota was re-elected as the 37th @HoCSpeaker #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/zsV7WRaLwT
— In the Chamber (@HoCChamber) November 22, 2021
According to the Parliament of UK's website, the tradition of dragging the speaker has its roots in the Speaker's function to communicate the Commons' opinions to the monarch. Historically, if the monarch didn't agree with the message being communicated then the early death of the Speaker could follow. "Therefore, as you can imagine, previous Speakers required some gentle persuasion to accept the post."
Rota successfully beat out other candidates Marc Dalton, Chris d'Entremont, Joel Godin, Carol Hughes, Elizabeth May, and Alexandra Mendes.
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