44th Parliament: Electing the Speaker

44th Parliament: Electing the Speaker

By Andrew Thomson | UPDATED November 22, 2021 4:40pmET

**Liberal MP Anthony Rota (Nipissing--Timiskaming, Ont.) will again serve as Speaker of the House of Commons after winning this afternoon's secret-ballot election.**

Choosing a speaker is job one for the new House of Commons. It takes precedence over all other parliamentary business, in fact.

Seven MPs are on the ballot: Marc Dalton (Conservative), Chris d'Entremont (Conservative), Joël Godin (Conservative), Carol Hughes (NDP), Green parliamentary leader Elizabeth May, Alexandra Mendès (Liberal), and Anthony Rota (Liberal), who served as speaker in the previous Parliament. 

By tradition, MPs are first informed in the Senate that the Governor General will only read the speech from the throne once they have elected a speaker.

**Follow full coverage of the speaker election on Monday, Nov. 22**

ELECTING THE SPEAKER: HOW IT HAPPENS

  • A secret ballot has been used to elect Speakers since 1986, when Progressive Conservative MP John Fraser won after 11 ballots. Previously, the government put forward their preferred nominee with little opposition.
  • The Dean of the House – the longest-serving MP who is not a minister, leader, or whip – oversees the vote. That would be Louis Plamondon of the Bloc Québécois.
  • Hopeful speakers are allowed to address the House for up to five minutes. When there are no more speeches, voting begins after a 30-minute break. Portable booths are typically set up at the clerk's table inside the chamber to ensure privacy.
  • The Mace, symbolic of the authority of the House of Commons, stays underneath the clerk's table until the new speaker is elected.
  • Technically all MPs who aren’t ministers or party leaders can stand for election. To be removed from consideration, they have to inform the Clerk of the House by 6 p.m. the previous day.
  • MPs vote with a preferential ballot instead of the previous system of individual rounds. The Clerk counts and then destroys the ballots. MPs do not have to rank all candidates on the ballot. But the Clerk has authority to reject ballots with "unclear" intentions.
  • If no candidate receives 50 per cent, the last-place candidate is removed, and their ballots are re-assigned to the next preferred candidate. Only the winner is announced. No specific results are kept.

THE AFTERMATH

By tradition, the prime minister, opposition leader, and third-party leader congratulate the new speaker, who is playfully dragged to their chair.

Why the symbolic show of hesitation? Because becoming Speaker of the English House of Commons was once akin to signing your own death warrant.

In the early days of the English Parliament, Speakers usually had to deliver any bad news to the king, such as a refusal to raise taxes. Some monarchs were less than charitable in their reactions. Nine Speakers died violently between 1394 and 1535.

Here is the traditional passage the newly-elected Speaker recites to the Governor General once in the Senate chamber:

May it please Your Excellency, the House of Commons has elected me their Speaker, though I am but little able to fulfil the important duties thus assigned to me. If, in the performance of those duties, I should at any time fall into error, I pray that the fault may be imputed to me, and not to the Commons, whose servant I am, and who, through me, the better to enable them, to discharge their duty to their Queen and Country, humbly claim all their undoubted rights and privileges, especially that they may have freedom of speech in their debates, access to Your Excellency’s person at all seasonable times, and that their proceedings may receive from Your Excellency the most favourable construction.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer "drag" Anthony Rota to the chair after his election as Speaker of the House of Commons in 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

THE JOB

The Speaker’s role is to ensure the rules and customs of Parliament are obeyed, protect the rights of MPs, and act as an impartial arbiter when deciding on motions, rulings, and requests.

They only vote to break a tie, as Peter Milliken did in May 2005 on a failed motion of non-confidence.

Speakers are often most visible during Question Period as they try to maintain order. But they’re also responsible for overseeing all daily business in the House, from debates to the introduction of bills.

They are also responsible for the administration of the House of Commons, and chair the Board of Internal Economy.

Deputy and assistant deputy speakers are named after the election.

PAST ELECTIONS

1986

The first vote for Speaker of the House required 11 ballots and 12 hours before John Fraser had a majority of MPs in his corner.

1993

Liberal backbencher Gilbert Parent narrowly beats caucus colleague Jean-Robert Gauthier following a six-ballot election that took seven hours to complete. Parent and Gauthier actually tied on the fifth ballot. The following vote confirmed Parent as the winner.

1997

Parent wins another term as Speaker over independent MP John Nunziata and Liberal Roger Gallaway.

2001

With the retirement of Parent, Peter Milliken begins his 10-year run as Speaker by besting fellow Liberals Bob Kilger, Derek Lee, Clifford Lincoln, Dan McTeague, and Tom Wappel. Milliken wins re-election in 2004.

2006

Milliken defeats fellow Liberals Diane Marleau and Marcel Proulx after the Conservatives form a minority government.

2008

With another Conservative minority, Milliken wins re-election after five rounds of voting. Seven other MPs were on the initial ballot, with many citing a lack of good behaviour in the House as their reason to run.

2011

Six ballots over seven hours are required to elect Conservative Andrew Scheer. Scheer defeated NDP MP Denise Savoie on the final ballot.

2015

Nova Scotia Liberal MP Geoff Regan becomes the new speaker with a first-ballot victory over three other candidates. Regan is the first Atlantic Canadian to hold the job in nearly a century.  

2019 

Liberal MP Anthony Rota (Nipissing--Timiskaming, Ont.) emerges the winner over four other candidates, including former speaker Geoff Regan.

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