Members
All were elected in the 35th general election held on June 9, 2003 except for Victor Boudreau who was elected in a by-election on October 4, 2004 and Ed Doherty who was elected in a by-election on November 14, 2005.
The standings were changed further on January 13, 2006, when Frank Branch left the Liberal caucus to sit as an independent; and on February 17, 2006, when then Progressive Conservative MLA Michael Malley crossed the floor to sit as an independent thus putting Bernard Lord's government into a minority situation. Malley, while serving as speaker, changed his affiliation back to Progressive Conservative on April 13, 2006. Some controversy arose following this as following the 2003 election, the House unanimously passed a motion requiring the Opposition Liberals to pair a member with the speaker during meetings of committees of the whole in order to maintain the government majority in such situations. The Opposition argued that there was no precedent for a speaker to cross the floor and therefore, they did not recognize that a majority government existed and would not honour this motion under the circumstances. The House voted on May 30, 2006 to express confidence in the Speaker and therefore, implicitly, approve of his change of affiliation. From that date forward, the Liberals accepted Malley as a Progressive Conservative.
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Famous quotes containing the word members:
“A multitude of little superfluous precautions engender here a population of deputies and sub-officials, each of whom acquits himself with an air of importance and a rigorous precision, which seemed to say, though everything is done with much silence, “Make way, I am one of the members of the grand machine of state.””
—Marquis De Custine (1790–1857)
“I esteem it the happiness of this country that its settlers, whilst they were exploring their granted and natural rights and determining the power of the magistrate, were united by personal affection. Members of a church before whose searching covenant all rank was abolished, they stood in awe of each other, as religious men.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Consider the value to the race of one-half of its members being enabled to throw aside the intolerable bondage of ignorance that has always weighed them down!”
—Bertha Honore Potter Palmer (1849–1918)