<strong>How</strong> <strong>Canadians</strong> <strong>Govern</strong> <strong>Themselves</strong>Member of the House of Commons cansit in the Senate. But a Minister from theHouse of Commons may, by invitationof the Senate, come to that chamber andspeak (though not vote). The sameopportunities are available to a Senator.By custom, every province must, ifpossible, have at least one CabinetMinister. Of course, if a province doesnot elect any government supporters,this becomes difficult. In that case, thePrime Minister may put a Senator fromthat province into the Cabinet, or getsome Member from another provinceto resign his or her seat and then try toget a person from the “missing”province elected there. In 1921, theLiberals did not elect a single Memberfrom Alberta. The Prime Minister,Mr. King, solved the problem of Albertarepresentation in the Cabinet by gettingthe Hon. Charles Stewart, Liberalex-Premier of Alberta, nominated in theQuebec constituency of Argenteuil andthen elected. Whether Mr. King’s ploywould work now is quite anotherquestion. The voters of today do notalways look with favour upon outsidecandidates being “parachuted” intotheir ridings. The smallest province,Prince Edward Island, has often goneunrepresented in the Cabinet for yearsat a stretch.By custom also, Ontario and Quebechave 10 or 12 Ministers each, providedeach province has elected enoughgovernment supporters to warrantsuch a number. Historically, at leastone Minister from Quebec was anEnglish-speaking Protestant, and therewas at least one Minister from theFrench-speaking minorities outsideQuebec, normally from New Brunswickor Ontario, or both. It also used to benecessary to have at least one Englishspeaking(usually Irish) Roman CatholicMinister. In recent years women havewon increased recognition and<strong>Canada</strong>’s multicultural nature has beenreflected in Cabinet representation fromJewish and non-English, non-French,ethnocultural minorities.THE SPEAKERSThe Speaker of the Senate is appointedby the <strong>Govern</strong>or General on therecommendation of the Prime Minister.The Speaker of the House of Commonsis elected by secret ballot by the Houseitself after each general election. He orshe must be a Member of the House.The Speaker is its presiding officer,decides all questions of proce<strong>du</strong>re andorder, controls the House of Commonsstaff, and is expected to be impartial,non-partisan and as firm in enforcingthe rules against the Prime Ministeras against the humblest oppositionbackbencher.Until recently, the Commons’ Speakerwas, by custom, chosen from amongthe Members of the party in power,though there were cases (the mostrecent in 1979) where a Speaker of oneparty carried on after a change ofgovernment, and one (1957) where the<strong>Govern</strong>ment was ready to support aMember from one of the minor parties.A Speaker sometimes drops his or hermembership in a party, and runs in thenext general election as an independent,although this has not recently beenthe case.The Institutions of Our Federal <strong>Govern</strong>ment41
<strong>How</strong> <strong>Canadians</strong> <strong>Govern</strong> <strong>Themselves</strong>In 1985, the Commons adopted a newsystem whereby any Member, exceptMinisters of the Crown, party leadersand anyone holding an office withinthe House, may stand for election asSpeaker, and the election itself iscon<strong>du</strong>cted by secret ballot in theCommons Chamber. The system goes afurther step toward securing theSpeaker against any lingering suspicionthat he or she is the <strong>Govern</strong>ment’schoice and that the speakership is simplyone of a number of prime ministerialappointments.the Speaker is English-speaking, theDeputy Speaker must be Frenchspeaking,and vice versa. The Deputyhas occasionally been chosen fromthe Opposition.This new proce<strong>du</strong>re also interruptsthe custom of an alternating FrenchandEnglish-speaking Speaker in theCommons. This tradition in the Senatehas also been interrupted, for differentreasons. In the House of Commons, ifThe Institutions of Our Federal <strong>Govern</strong>ment42The Queen performs many ceremonial <strong>du</strong>ties when visiting <strong>Canada</strong>.Photo: Canadian Heritage
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