The Speakers of the Senate of Canada

Hon. Mark Robert Drouin
P.C., Q.C., B.A., LL.B. (1957–1962)

Mark Drouin, of the City of Québec, was a lawyer, hockey enthusiast and supporter of live theatre. He served as a captain in the Régiment de Québec, which was later absorbed by the Voltigeurs de Québec. In his law practice, he took part in several notorious criminal cases, such as the 1946 trial of McGill professor Raymond Boyer, who was found guilty of espionage. For many years, he was Vice-President of the Senior Hockey League of Quebec. His theatrical interests included the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, the National Theatre School and the Dominion Drama Festival.

Drouin’s political involvement started in the 1930s, when he began campaigning for the new coalition of Quebec Liberals and the Quebec Conservatives, the Union nationale. As a federal Progressive Conservative, he ran unsuccessfully against Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent in 1949. He acted as treasurer for seven years for the federal Progressive Conservative Party, and was an organizer in eastern Quebec. In 1956, he was the only French-speaking delegate to support John Diefenbaker for the leadership of the party, an action that the future Progressive Conservative Prime Minister never forgot. The next year Diefenbaker appointed him simultaneously to the Senate and as Speaker.

Drouin served as Speaker in two Parliaments.

Drouin was Speaker when Queen Elizabeth II opened Parliament in 1957, the first time in Canadian history that the sovereign has opened the Canadian Parliament.

Next Speaker: Hon. George Stanley White

Previous Speaker: Hon. Wishart McLea Robertson

© Library of Parliament  |  Revised: 2011-12

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