predecessor parliament successor birth_place constituency_mp death_date death_place party office birth_date term_start order image article_title term_end name
william mcgregor napoléon belcourt canadian oliver james wilcox charles marcil newmarket , upper canada essex north 23 may 1922 toronto , ontario liberal speaker of the canadian house of commons 05 april 1859 1900 1905 11th robertfranklinsutherland23.jpg robert franklin sutherland
 1909 1909 robert franklin sutherland
robert franklin sutherland

robert franklin sutherland , -lrb- april 5 , 1859 -- may 23 , 1922 -rrb- was a canadian politician and speaker of the canadian house of commons from 1905 to 1909 , noted for his fine speaking ability and strong temperament .
sutherland was first elected to the canadian house of commons as a liberal member of parliament for essex north in the 1900 election .
he was re-elected in the 1904 and 1908 elections .
he was born in newmarket in canada west in 1859 .
after studies at the university of toronto and university of western ontario , sutherland began his career as a lawyer in windsor , ontario .
he was a member of the city council , and first ran for a seat in the canadian house of commons in 1900 and was elected .
during the campaign in a riding with a large francophone and catholic population , he was accused of having been a member of the anti-catholic protestant protective association .
while he admitted having attended a meeting out of curiosity , he insisted that he refused to join the group upon learning of its anti-catholic views .
once elected , he concentrated on constituency issues and obtaining grants for his riding .
by the time of the next general election in 1904 , sutherland had learned some french and was able to campaign in the language .
following the election , he was nominated by sir wilfrid laurier to become speaker of the house , and was the first anglophone speaker to give part of his acceptance speech in french .
laurier offered to renominate sutherland for the speakership following the 1908 election , but he declined , and was appointed the next year to a seat on ontario 's high court .
he became a respected judge and mediator .
he was later appointed to chair a royal commission in ontario to investigate a proposal by sir adam beck to establish a network of radial lines -lrb- that is , a system of inter-city streetcar lines -rrb- .
sutherland 's report argued against the scheme and it was not implemented .
