Today being the first day of the meeting of the First Session of the 39th Parliament for the dispatch of business, Ms. Audrey O'Brien, Clerk of the House of Commons, Mr. Marc Bosc, Deputy Clerk of the House of Commons, Mr. R. R. Walsh, Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel of the House of Commons, and Ms. Marie-Andrée Lajoie, Clerk Assistant of the House of Commons, Commissioners appointed per dedimus potestatem for the purpose of administering the oath to Members of the House of Commons, attending according to their duty, Ms. Audrey O'Brien laid upon the Table a list of the Members returned to serve in this Parliament received by her as Clerk of the House of Commons from and certified under the hand of Mr. Jean-Pierre Kingsley, Chief Electoral Officer (Sessional Paper No. 8530-391-01).

The certificate was as follows:

THIS IS TO CERTIFY that following dissolution of the Thirty-Eighth Parliament on the twenty-ninth day of November 2005, writs of election were issued on the same date by command of Her Excellency the Governor General for the election of a member to serve in the House of Commons for every electoral district in Canada, such writs being severally addressed to the returning officers mentioned in the attached list and directing that the nomination of candidates be held on the second day of January 2006, and the poll, if required, on the twenty-third day of January 2006.

AND THAT an election was accordingly held in every electoral district in Canada on the twenty-third day of January 2006.

AND THAT the persons named in the attached list have from time to time been returned as elected members to serve in the House of Commons pursuant to the said writs; their names having been duly entered in the order in which the returns were received in the book kept for that purpose, pursuant to section 317 of the Canada Elections Act, and notice of such returns having from time to time been duly published in the Canada Gazette.

Given under my hand at Ottawa, this sixteenth day of February 2006.

JEAN-PIERRE KINGSLEY, Chief Electoral Officer of Canada

The list of elected Members of Parliament is as follows:

Electoral Districts - Circonscriptions

The Members, who had taken and subscribed the oath required by law, took their seats.

The Clerk informed the Members that the deputy of the Governor General would proceed to the Senate today at 11:00 a.m. to open the First Session of the 39th Parliament.

A Message was received from the Right Honourable Beverley McLachlin, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, in her capacity as the deputy of the Governor General, desiring the immediate attendance of the Members in the Senate.

Accordingly, the Members proceeded to the Senate and were informed by the Speaker of the Senate that Her Excellency the Governor General did not see fit to declare the causes of her summoning the present Parliament until the Speaker of the House of Commons shall have been chosen according to law, but on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, at 3:00 p.m., Her Excellency would declare the causes of calling this Parliament.

The Members returned to the Chamber.

Pursuant to Standing Order 2, the House proceeded to the election of a Speaker.

Pursuant to Standing Order 3, Mr. Blaikie (Elmwood—Transcona) took the Chair to preside over the election.

Pursuant to Standing Orders 4 and 5, the Member presiding informed the House that a list of Members not eligible for election to the Office of the Speaker was available at the Table.

Accordingly, the list of candidates for the first ballot was as follows:

Pursuant to Standing Order 3.1, the candidates for the first ballot addressed the House.

At 11:40 a.m., the sitting was suspended to the call of the Chair for the first ballot.

At 12:45 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Pursuant to Standing Order 4, the Members proceeded to vote.

At 1:19 p.m., the voting procedure was completed and the sitting was suspended to the call of the Chair for the counting of the ballots by the Clerk.

At 1:48 p.m., the sitting resumed.

Pursuant to Standing Order 4(7), the Member presiding announced that Mr. Milliken (Kingston and the Islands) had been elected to the Office of the Speaker.

Accordingly, the Member presiding left the Chair.

Mr. Milliken (Kingston and the Islands) was escorted to the Chair by Mr. Harper (Prime Minister) and Mr. Graham (Leader of the Opposition) and returned his humble acknowlegments to the House for the great honour they had been pleased to confer upon him by choosing him to be their Speaker.

Whereupon, the Mace was laid upon the Table.

The Speaker informed the House that Her Excellency, the Governor General, would arrive at the Peace Tower on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, at 3:00 p.m., and, when it had been indicated that all was in readiness, would proceed to the Chamber of the Senate to open the First Session of the 39th Parliament.

At 2:07 p.m., the Speaker adjourned the House until tomorrow at 3:00 p.m.