Anthony Rota

Anthony Rota MP (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 the riding of Nipissing—Timiskaming. He previously represented Nipissing—Timiskaming as MP from 2004 to 2011. On December 5, 2019, he was elected by the House of Commons to be the Speaker in the 43rd Parliament.[1]

The Honourable Anthony Rota MP
37th Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada
Incumbent
Assumed office December 5, 2019
Monarch	Elizabeth II
Governor General	Julie Payette
Prime Minister	Justin Trudeau
Preceded by	Geoff Regan
Member of the Canadian Parliament for Nipissing—Timiskaming
Incumbent
Assumed office October 19, 2015
Preceded by	Jay Aspin
In office June 28, 2004 – May 2, 2011
Preceded by	Bob Wood
Succeeded by	Jay Aspin
Personal details
Born	May 15, 1961 North Bay, Ontario, Canada
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Chantal Piché-Rota
Residence	North Bay, Ontario
Profession	Administrator, Business advisor

Early life and career

Born in North Bay, Ontario, Rota holds a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Wilfrid Laurier University, a diploma in finance from Algonquin College and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Ottawa.

Prior to his election, Rota worked for the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) as regional manager for Ontario. He has also served with the Canadian Technology Network in Ottawa, and has worked in the private sector. Rota is fluent in English, French, Italian and Spanish. He is a political science sessional lecturer at Nipissing University.

Political career

Rota began his political career at the municipal level, serving as a city councillor for North Bay City Council and chairing the city's planning and economic development committee. He won the federal Liberal nomination for Nipissing—Timiskaming in early 2004, defeating rival candidates Susan Church, Hugh McLachlan and Joe Sinicrope with 52% on the second ballot. In the general election held in June of that year, he narrowly defeated Conservative candidate Al McDonald.

Rota was re-elected in the 2006 election, defeating the Conservative Party's Peter Chirico, the NDP's Dave Fluri, and the Green Party's Meg Purdy. In the 2008 election, he was again re-elected. He served as the Liberal Party caucus chair, and as critic for the Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario.

He ran again in the 2011 election, but lost by just 14 votes to Jay Aspin of the Conservative Party.[2] Due to the narrow margin, however, an automatic judicial recount was required, confirming the margin at 18 votes.[3] After his 2011 loss, Rota began teaching at Nipissing University in North Bay, Ontario.

In the 2015 election, he was again the Liberal candidate, defeating Jay Aspin (who defeated him in 2011) and once again becoming the MP in the 42nd Canadian Parliament.[4] On December 9, 2015, he was appointed Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole.

Rota was re-elected in the 2019 election.[5] He was also elected as 37th Speaker of the House of Commons on December 5, 2019, by winning a ranked ballot between himself, Joël Godin, Carol Hughes, Geoff Regan (the Speaker during the previous Parliament) and Bruce Stanton.[1] Following Rota's win, the Conservatives said that he had them to thank for his new position. They had made the decision to unseat Regan as a show of strength during a caucus meeting. They did so by ranking Regan further down on the ranked ballot.[6][7]

On June 17, 2020, Rota ordered that NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh be removed from the House of Commons after referring to Bloc Québécois MP Alain Therrien as a racist.[8]

Electoral record

2019 Canadian federal election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Anthony Rota	19,352	40.55	−11.33
	Conservative	Jordy Carr	12,984	27.20	−2.11
	New Democratic	Rob Boulet	9,784	20.50	+4.26
	Green	Alex Gomm	3,111	6.52	+3.95
	People's	Mark King	2,496	5.23	n/a
Total valid votes/Expense limit			47,727	100.0
Total rejected ballots			407
Turnout			48,134	64.6
Eligible voters			74,527
	Liberal hold		Swing		−4.61
Source: Elections Canada[9][10]

2015 Canadian federal election: Nipissing—Timiskaming
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Anthony Rota	25,357	51.9	+15.41	–
	Conservative	Jay Aspin	14,325	29.3	−7.11	–
	New Democratic	Kathleen Jodouin	7,936	16.2	−4.93	–
	Green	Nicole Peltier	1,257	2.6	−3.37	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			48,875	100.0		$217,533.50
Total rejected ballots			224	0.45	−0.05
Turnout			49,099	69.32	+8.82
Eligible voters			70,820
	Liberal notional hold		Swing		+11.26
Source: Elections Canada[11][12]

2011 Canadian federal election: Nipissing—Timiskaming
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Conservative	Jay Aspin	15,495	36.7	+4.4	–
	Liberal	Anthony Rota	15,477	36.6	−8.0	–
	New Democratic	Rona Eckert	8,781	20.8	+5.0	–
	Green	Scott Daley	2,518	6.0	−0.8	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			42,271	100.0	–
Total rejected ballots			225	0.5	+0.1
Turnout			42,496	60.5	+6.8
Eligible voters			70,244	–	–
	Conservative gain from Liberal		Swing		+6.2
This vote was subject to mandatory recount because of the margin of win being less than 1/1000 of the total votes.

2008 Canadian federal election: Nipissing—Timiskaming
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%	Expenditures
	Liberal	Anthony Rota	18,510	44.6	–0.1	$77,997
	Conservative	Joe Sinicrope	13,432	32.3	–2.2	$81,801
	New Democratic	Dianna Allen	6,582	15.8	–1.5	$8,409
	Green	Craig Bridges	2,808	6.8	+3.3	$10,803
	Canadian Action	Andrew Moulden	204	0.5	–
Total valid votes/Expense limit			41,536	100.0	$87,383
Total rejected ballots			167	0.4	0.0
Turnout			41,703	~58.2	−9.4
	Liberal hold		Swing		+2.1

2006 Canadian federal election: Nipissing—Timiskaming
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Anthony Rota	21,393	44.7	+2.4
	Conservative	Peter Chirico	16,511	34.5	–2.6
	New Democratic	Dave Fluri	8,268	17.3	+0.3
	Green	Meg Purdy	1,698	3.5	+0.4
Total valid votes			47,870	100.0
Total rejected ballots			211	0.4	−0.1
Turnout			48,081	67.6	+5.2
	Liberal hold		Swing		+2.5

2004 Canadian federal election: Nipissing—Timiskaming
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	Anthony Rota	18,254	42.3
	Conservative	Al McDonald	16,001	37.1
	New Democratic	Dave Fluri	7,354	17.0
	Green	Les Wilcox	1,329	3.1
	Canadian Action	Ross MacLean	204	0.5
Total valid votes			43,142	100.0
Total rejected ballots			222	0.5
Turnout			43,364	62.4

References

1. Tunney, Catharine; Zimonjic, Peter; Harris, Kathleen (December 5, 2019). "Liberal MP Anthony Rota elected Speaker of the House of Commons". CBC News. Retrieved December 16, 2019.
2. "Sudbury-area voters part of orange wave". Sudbury Star, May 2, 2011.
3. "Official recounts triggered in two Ontario ridings". The Globe and Mail, May 3, 2011.
4. http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/results-2015/
5. Taschner, Eric (October 22, 2019). "Incumbent Anthony Rota re-elected for 5th term". CTV News. Retrieved December 5, 2019.
6. "Liberal MP Anthony Rota elected Speaker. You're welcome, Conservatives say". National Post. December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
7. "Liberal MP Anthony Rota upsets Regan to become Speaker in minority Parliament". Burnaby Now. December 5, 2019. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
8. "Liberal MP Anthony Rota Boots NDP from House".
9. "List of confirmed candidates". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 4, 2019.
10. "Election Night Results". Elections Canada. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
11. Elections Canada – Confirmed candidates for Nipissing—Timiskaming, 30 September 2015
12. Elections Canada – Preliminary Election Expenses Limits for Candidates Archived August 15, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• View Anthony Rota
• Anthony Rota – Parliament of Canada biography