Editing Marcel Lambert

{{Short description|Canadian politician (1919–2000)}}
{{for|the French footballer|Marcel Lambert (footballer)}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=September 2021}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox officeholder
|honorific-prefix = [[The Honourable]]
|name             = Marcel Lambert
|honorific-suffix = {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC|size=100%}}
|image= Marcel Lambert.png
|caption=Official 1980 profile
|office           = 25th [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|Speaker of the House of Commons]]
|term_start       = September 27, 1962
|term_end         = May 15, 1963
|predecessor      = [[Roland Michener]]
|successor        = [[Alan Macnaughton]]
|constituency_MP1 = [[Edmonton West]]
|parliament1      = Canadian
|term_start1      = 1957
|term_end1        = 1984
|predecessor1     = [[James Angus MacKinnon]]
|successor1       = [[Murray Dorin]]
|birth_name       = Marcel Joseph Aimé Lambert
|birth_date       = {{birth date|1919|08|21}}
|birth_place      = [[St. Albert, Alberta]], [[Canada]]
|death_date       = {{death date and age|2000|09|24|1919|08|21}}
|death_place      = [[Barrhead, Alberta]], [[Canada]]
|party            = [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]]
|education        = [[University of Alberta]] ([[Bachelor of Arts|BA]], [[Bachelor of Commerce|BComm]])<br>[[Hertford College, Oxford]] ([[Bachelor of Civil Law|BCL]], [[Master of Arts|MA]])
| allegiance      = {{flag|Canada|1921}}
| branch          = [[Canadian Army]]
| unit            = [[King's Own Calgary Regiment|14th Armoured Regiment (Calgary Regiment)]]
| serviceyears    = 
| rank            = [[Lieutenant-colonel (Canada)|Lieutenant-colonel]]
| battles         = [[Second World War]]
*[[Dieppe Raid]]
}}
'''Marcel Joseph Aimé Lambert''' {{Post-nominals|country=CAN|PC|QC}} (August 21, 1919 – September 24, 2000) was a Canadian politician and [[Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada]] from 1962 to 1963.

==Life and career==
Lambert was born in [[St. Albert, Alberta|St. Albert]], to a [[French Canadian]] father and a [[Belgium|Belgian]] mother. He served in the [[King's Own Calgary Regiment|14th Armoured Regiment (Calgary Regiment)]] during the [[Second World War]] and participated in (and survived) the [[Dieppe Raid]]. He achieved the rank of [[Lieutenant-colonel (Canada)|lieutenant colonel]].

After returning to Alberta, he was named a [[Rhodes Scholarship|Rhodes Scholar]] in 1946 and in 1947 he entered [[Hertford College, Oxford]] ([[University of Oxford]]) to study law.

Lambert was a candidate for the [[Progressive Conservative Association of Alberta|Alberta Progressive Conservatives]] in the [[1952 Alberta general election|1952 provincial election]], but failed to win a seat in the provincial legislature.

He was first elected to the [[House of Commons of Canada]] as [[Progressive Conservative Party of Canada|Progressive Conservative]] [[Member of Parliament (Canada)|Member of Parliament]] (MP) from the [[electoral district (Canada)|riding]] of [[Edmonton West]] in the [[1957 Canadian federal election|1957 election]]. He was returned in the nine following elections, and remained an MP until his retirement prior to the [[1984 Canadian federal election|1984 election]].<ref name="ParlBio">{{Canadian Parliament links|ID=10535|nolist=yes}}</ref>

Lambert served as [[Parliamentary Secretary]] to the [[Minister of National Defence (Canada)|Minister of National Defence]] from 1957 to 1958, and as Parliamentary Secretary to the [[Minister of National Revenue (Canada)|Minister of National Revenue]] until 1962.<ref name="ParlBio"/>

Following the defeat of Speaker [[Roland Michener]] in the [[1962 Canadian federal election|1962 election]], Lambert was nominated to the position of speaker of the House of Commons by Prime Minister [[John Diefenbaker]].<ref name="ParlBio"/>

Lambert presided over the House of Commons during a tenuous [[minority government]] situation. As speaker, Lambert strove to be very correct in his interpretation of standing orders, ruling opposition questions out of order during [[Question Period]] if they were not strict inquiries and strayed at all into argumentation. This displeased the [[parliamentary opposition|Opposition]] and led to his rulings being appealed unsuccessfully.

Lambert refused to allow an [[emergency debate]] on the issue of [[Bomarc]] missiles that the opposition demanded when an American State Department press release was issued contradicting arguments made by the Diefenbaker government against accepting the missiles. Lambert asserted that the matter was not of sufficient urgency to warrant a special debate. [[Liberal Party of Canada|Liberal]] leader [[Lester Pearson]] challenged Lambert's decision, and the House overturned Lambert's decision by a vote of 122 to 104.

This incident indicated that the government had lost control of the House. Soon after, the government was defeated on a [[motion of no confidence]] on the Bomarc issue. Diefenbaker called an election, and appointed Lambert to [[Canadian Cabinet|Cabinet]] as [[Minister of Veterans Affairs (Canada)|minister of Veterans Affairs]]. While Lambert was re-elected in Edmonton, the Progressive Conservative government lost the election, and Lambert's two-month career as a cabinet minister came to an end.

With the Conservatives in [[parliamentary opposition|Opposition]], Lambert sided with Diefenbaker's critics, and refused to sign a petition declaring loyalty to the Conservative leader in 1966 when [[Dalton Camp]] attempted to force a [[leadership review]].

In Opposition, Lambert was a leading [[shadow cabinet|critic]] in the areas of National Defence and Finance. During the short-lived government of [[Joe Clark]], he was chairman of the Miscellaneous Estimates Committee, and led it through a flurry of activity.

After being defeated in a bitter nomination race by his eventual successor, [[Murray Dorin]], Lambert retired from the House of Commons at the [[1984 Canadian federal election|1984 election]]. He was appointed to the Canadian Transportation Commission by Prime Minister [[Brian Mulroney]] following the election.

== Archives ==
There is a Marcel Lambert [[fonds]] at [[Library and Archives Canada]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Marcel Lambert fonds, Library and Archives Canada|url=http://central.bac-lac.gc.ca/.redirect?app=fonandcol&id=98250&lang=eng}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Speakers of the Canadian House of Commons}}
{{CA-Ministers of Veterans Affairs}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lambert, Marcel}}
[[Category:1919 births]]
[[Category:2000 deaths]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Belgian descent]]
[[Category:Canadian King's Counsel]]
[[Category:Canadian Rhodes Scholars]]
[[Category:Franco-Albertan people]]
[[Category:Lawyers in Alberta]]
[[Category:Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Alberta]]
[[Category:Members of the King's Privy Council for Canada]]
[[Category:Politicians from Edmonton]]
[[Category:Progressive Conservative Party of Canada MPs]]
[[Category:Speakers of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:20th-century members of the House of Commons of Canada]]
[[Category:Minister of veterans affairs of Canada]]