by over 10,000 votes. The Liberals were cut down to a minority government in the 38th Canadian parliament, and Reid remained on the Official Opposition front bench as his party's critic for Democratic Reform and for Fednor (Federal Economic Development Initiative for Northern Ontario). Government MP (2006–2015) Reid was re-elected in the 2006 federal election, in which the Conservatives won a minority government. He served as deputy Government House Leader. While an opposition MP, Reid had argued that returning officers in elections should be appointed by a non-partisan agency instead of the government. This measure was included in the Harper government's Accountability Act, introduced in 2006. In May of the same year, Reid brought forward a motion to prevent the Federal Ethics Commissioner from making public the identities of employers of dependent children of Members of Parliament. The Commissioner had been given this power to safeguard against conflict-of-interest situations, but Reid and other MPs argued that it was a violation of privacy. Reid proposed several amendments at the Conservative Party's 2008 convention in Winnipeg. Two of his amendments, which would have changed the weighting of ridings in leadership elections, were defeated. Two other amendments to make the party more democratic were passed easily: one calls for members of the party's National Council to be elected by preferential ballot, and the other mandates that postal ballots be used for leadership elections. Return to opposition (2015–present) In the 2015 federal election, the Conservatives were removed from power. Reid was re-elected from Lanark—Frontenac—Kingston, essentially a reconfigured version of his old riding, with only a 14.1% margin of victory—his smallest margin of victory since his initial election to the House of Commons in 2000. Reid was subsequently named to the House of Commons Special Committee on Electoral Reform, and served as one of the two vice-chairs of the committee. He lost his seat on the Human Rights subcommittee, but retained his membership on the Procedure and House Affairs Committee, and was named Conservative critic for the Democratic Institutions portfolio. At the Conservative Party's 2016 national convention, Reid participated in an effort to amend the party constitution so that Rona Ambrose, then the interim party leader, would be permitted to become a candidate in the party's 2017 leadership race. Reid afterward described Ambrose as "the best prime minister Canada never had." Subsequently, however, he supported Andrew Scheer's leadership campaign. Reid endorsed Leslyn Lewis in the