In the 1850s, Cockburn was elected to the town council. In 1861, he was elected to the
Province of Canada's legislative assembly as a Reformer representing
Northumberland West. Despite elected as an opponent of the
Macdonald–
Cartier administration, Cockburn
switched allegiances and became a supporter of Macdonald's
Liberal-Conservative Party. Cockburn attended the
Quebec Conference of 1864 as a supporter of Confederation. After
Confederation, he was elected to the new
House of Commons of Canada in the country's
first election. He was nominated by Sir
John A. Macdonald to be Canada's first
speaker of the House of Commons, a position in which he served from 1867 to 1874. His performance as Speaker was hindered by the fact that he spoke no French in a chamber in which both English and French were official languages. He did however understand French. In 1872, Cockburn was nominated for a second term as Speaker despite reservations by the
Opposition that he had been too favourable to the government in his rulings. Cockburn lost his seat in the
1874 election that had been precipitated by the
Pacific Scandal and that brought down the Macdonald government. Cockburn won back his former seat in the
1878 election but did not take an active role in Parliament. He resigned in 1881 when he was appointed to collect and classify Canadian
statutes but this assignment was cut short by his death. ==Death==