margin of 2,740 votes. In April 2006, during the 39th Canadian Parliament, Scheer was named as assistant deputy chairman of Committees of the Whole, one of three deputy speakers. He also sponsored a bill that would create minimum sentences for those convicted of motor vehicle theft called Bill C-343, An Act to amend the Criminal Code (motor vehicle theft). On November 21, 2008, during the 40th Canadian Parliament, he was named deputy speaker of the House of Commons and chairman of Committees of the Whole, succeeding NDP MP Bill Blaikie. Speaker of the House of Commons When the Conservative Party won a majority at the federal election in 2011, Scheer's experience as deputy speaker led many to consider him the front-runner to be elected speaker of the House of Commons. On June 2, 2011, Scheer defeated Denise Savoie, the lone opposition and only woman candidate, in the sixth round of balloting. Scheer became the youngest House speaker in Canadian history. Liberal MPs, who opposed Scheer's candidacy, criticized the NDP for voting for their own party member instead of tipping the balance toward Conservative MP Lee Richardson based on the MPs' beliefs that Scheer was "Harper's Boy". During his tenure, some individual opposition MPs were critical of some of his decisions. Liberal MP Irwin Cotler questioned his impartiality due to a decision over a robocall incident with Campaign Research (it was reported that Scheer was a client of the firm). During the 2011 Canadian federal election voter suppression scandal, opposition politicians raised concerns over Scheer's interventions to block questions after The Globe and Mail revealed that his riding association loaned $3,000 to Marty Burke while Burke's campaign was under scrutiny by Elections Canada over the incident. After 2015 Scheer was re-elected in the 2015 federal election in which the Conservative government was defeated. He was appointed opposition House leader by leader of the Official Opposition and interim Conservative party leader Rona Ambrose. He thought about running for the position of interim party leader but was dissuaded by fellow caucus MP Chris Warkentin, who pointed out that the interim leader cannot take the permanent position. On September 13, 2016, he announced his resignation as House leader outside a party caucus meeting in Halifax in order to explore a bid for the leadership of the federal Conservative Party. In 2016, Scheer publicly voiced his support for the UK's decision to vote in favour