Marcel Lambert

Canadian Parliament for Edmonton West
In office 1957–1984
Preceded by	James Angus MacKinnon
Succeeded by	Murray Dorin
Personal details
Born	Marcel Joseph Aimé Lambert (1919-08-21)August 21, 1919 Second World War Dieppe Raid

Marcel Joseph Aimé Lambert

from 1962 to 1963.

Lambert was born in

.

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

Lambert was a candidate for the Alberta Progressive Conservatives in the 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 Member of Parliament (MP) from the riding of Edmonton West in the 1957 election. He was returned in the nine following elections, and remained an MP until his retirement prior to the 1984 election.^[1]

Lambert served as

Following the defeat of Speaker Roland Michener in the 1962 election, Lambert was nominated to the position of speaker of the House of Commons by Prime Minister John Diefenbaker.^[1]

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 Opposition and led to his rulings being appealed unsuccessfully.

Lambert refused to allow an

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

. 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 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 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 election. He was appointed to the Canadian Transportation Commission by Prime Minister Brian Mulroney following the election.

There is a Marcel Lambert fonds at Library and Archives Canada.^[2]