Monday, February 12/2018

Added to the list of much too early deaths, Chris Stockwell, former Speaker of the Ontario Legislature. Conservative MLA who became a superb Speaker, intelligent and  even-handed. Once heard him explain his philosophy on the role. He saw it in terms of sport, with his function being to keep play moving. Thus minor infractions that would not have interfered with the flow could be ignored, whereas breaches of regulation or insults that would interfere with debate had to be called. One of the few Speakers who was a real pleasure to watch. Dead at 60. RIP