James Alexander Jerome, PC (March 4, 1933 – August 21, 2005) was a Canadian jurist and former politician and Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada.
In 1966, he won a seat on Sudbury's city council and, the next year, attempted to win election to the House of Commons of Canada in a by-election but was defeated.
Since there was a minority government in place, the opposition had a majority of members on the Committee and he had to remain impartial and balance the wishes of all parties in order to win approval for legislation.
His success in this role led Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau to appoint him as Speaker of the House of Commons following the 1974 election.
In the 1979 election, Jerome considered following the precedent set by his predecessor, Lucien Lamoureux, by running as an independent as is the custom of the Speaker of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.