Minister of Justice
What position did Geoff Regan take before Mar 2004?
Geoff Regan Geoffrey Paul Regan ( born 22 November 1959 ) is a Canadian politician who served as the 36th Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada from 2015 to 2019 . A member of the Liberal Party of Canada , he has been the Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Halifax West since 2000 , previously holding the seat from 1993 to 1997 . Under Paul Martin , he was Minister of Fisheries and Oceans from 2003 to 2006 . Early life and career . Regan was born in Windsor , Nova Scotia . Regan is the son of Gerald Regan , a former Premier of Nova Scotia and Cabinet Minister under Pierre Trudeau , and Carole Harrison , the daughter of John Harrison , a Member of Parliament from Saskatchewan . Two of his sisters are also well-known : Nancy Regan was a well-known local television personality with ATV , Laura Regan is an actress . Regan graduated from Sackville High School in 1977 and then earned his Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from St . Francis Xavier University in 1980 . Following university , Regan went on to earn a law degree from Dalhousie University , graduating in 1983 . He was admitted to the Nova Scotia Barristers’ Society in 1984 and practiced real estate and commercial law before entering public life . Regan was a member of Toastmasters for almost ten years , in the late 1980s to early 1990s . Federal politics . Regan was first elected to the House of Commons as part of the Liberal landslide victory in the 1993 federal election under Jean Chrétien . He was defeated in the 1997 election by NDP candidate Gordon Earle , mainly because of the federal governments changes to employment insurance . After regaining his seat in the 2000 federal election , Regan was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Leader of the Government in the House of Commons , a position then held by Don Boudria . In 2003 , Paul Martin appointed him as Minister of Fisheries and Oceans . Regan was the Regional Minister for Nova Scotia in the newly formed government of Paul Martin , sworn in on 12 December 2003 . Regan was re-elected in the 2004 federal election . He would keep position in cabinet in Martin’s minority government . In February 2004 , Regan was appointed to act as Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada , in matters related to Maher Arar . In opposition . Upon the defeat of the Liberal government in the 2006 election , he was appointed by Bill Graham , Interim Leader of the Official Opposition , to the shadow cabinet as the Official Opposition Critic for Human Resources and Skills Development . During his time as critic , Regan introduced a private members’ bill to expand Canada Access Grants for disabled and low income students . In January 2007 , he was appointed to the newly created Liberal Priorities and Planning Committee , which was chaired by then Liberal Opposition Leader Stéphane Dion . In March 2008 , Regan was named Chair of the Caucus Committee on Environmental Sustainability . Regan also served as Vice-Chair of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Environment and Sustainable Development . Regan was re-elected in 2008 , and 2011 federal elections , despite significant Liberal losses in both . Regan won his seat by a few percentage points in the latter election as the Liberals finished in third place . Under the leadership of Stephane Dion , Regan served as Opposition Critic for Human Resources and Skills Development . Under Michael Ignatieff , Regan served as Liberal Critic for Natural Resources , and later , Public Works and Government Services and also as the Liberal Natural Resources Critic under leader Justin Trudeau and the Vice-Chair of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources . Speaker of the House of Commons . Regan was re-elected in the 2015 federal election with 68% of the vote as the Liberal party swept all 32 Atlantic Canada seats and formed a majority government . On 2 December 2015 , Regan was selected as Speaker of the House of Commons in secret ballot by members of the 42nd Parliament over Liberals Denis Paradis and Yasmin Ratansi and Conservative Bruce Stanton . Regan won on the first ballot and served as the first speaker from Atlantic Canada in almost a hundred years . In December 2019 , he ran for re-election for Speaker of the Commons but lost to fellow Liberal MP Anthony Rota . Following Rotas win , the Conservatives said that he had them to thank for his new position . They had made the decision during a caucus meeting to unseat Regan as a show of strength to the Liberal minority government . They did so by ranking Regan further down on the ranked ballot . Awards and honours . - Metro Food Bank Society Community Leadership Award ( 1992 ) - Halifax Board of Trade Certificate of Merit ( 1992 ) - Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal ( 2002 ) - Appointed member of the Queens’s Privy Council for Canada ( 2003 ) - Elisabeth Mann Borgese Medal ( 2005 ) The International Ocean Institute awarded Regan then Minister of Fisheries and Oceans for his exemplary leadership in the field of Ocean Governance . - Lebanese Community Recognition Award ( 2008 ) - Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal ( 2012 ) Personal life . Regans wife , Kelly Regan , is a provincial MLA and Deputy Premier of Nova Scotia .