House of Commons of Canada - Officers and Symbols

Officers and Symbols

The House of Commons elects a presiding officer, known as the Speaker, at the beginning of each new parliamentary term, and also whenever a vacancy arises. Formerly, the Prime Minister determined who would serve as Speaker. Although the House voted on the matter, the voting constituted a mere formality. Since 1986, however, the House has elected Speakers by secret ballot. The Speaker is assisted by a Deputy Speaker, who also holds the title of Chair of Committees of the Whole. Two other deputies—the Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole and the Assistant Deputy Chair of Committees of the Whole—also preside. The duties of presiding over the House are divided between the four officers aforementioned; however, the Speaker usually presides over Question Period and over the most important debates.

The Speaker controls debates by calling on members to speak. If a member believes that a rule (or Standing Order) has been breached, he or she may raise a "point of order", on which the Speaker makes a ruling that is not subject to any debate or appeal. The Speaker may also discipline members who fail to observe the rules of the House. When presiding, the Speaker must remain impartial. The Speaker also oversees the administration of the House and is Chair of the Board of Internal Economy, the governing body for the House of Commons. The current Speaker of the House of Commons is the Honourable Andrew Scheer, MP.

The member of the Government responsible for steering legislation through the House is Leader of the Government in the House of Commons. The Government House Leader (as he or she is more commonly known) is a Member of Parliament selected by the Prime Minister and holds cabinet rank. The Leader manages the schedule of the House of Commons, and attempts to secure the Opposition's support for the Government's legislative agenda.

Officers of the House who are not members include the Clerk of the House of Commons, the Deputy Clerk, the Law Clerk and Parliamentary Counsel, and several other clerks. These officers advise the Speaker and members on the rules and procedure of the House in addition to exercising senior management functions within the House administration. Another important officer is the Sergeant-at-Arms, whose duties include the maintenance of order and security on the House's premises and inside the buildings of the Parliamentary precinct. (The RCMP patrol Parliament Hill but are not allowed into the buildings unless asked by the Speaker). The Sergeant-at-Arms also carries the ceremonial mace, a symbol of the authority of the Crown and of the House of Commons, into the House each sitting. The House is also staffed by parliamentary pages, who carry messages to the members in the Chamber and otherwise provide assistance to the House.

The Commons' mace has the shape of a mediaeval mace which was used as a weapon, but in brass and ornate in detail and symbolism. At its bulbous head is a replica of the Imperial State Crown; the choice of this crown for the Commons' mace differentiates it from the Senate's mace, which has St. Edward's Crown at its apex. The Commons mace is placed upon the table in front of the speaker for the duration of the sitting with the crown pointing towards the prime minister and the other cabinet ministers, who advise the Queen and governor general and are accountable to this chamber (in the Senate chamber, the mace points towards the throne, where the Queen has the right to sit herself).

Carved above the speaker's chair are the Royal Arms of the United Kingdom. This chair was a gift from the United Kingdom Branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association in 1921, to replace the chair that was destroyed by the fire of 1916, and was an exact replica of the chair in the British House of Commons at the time. These arms at its apex were considered the royal arms for general purposes throughout the British empire at the time. Since 1931, however, Canada has been an independent country and the Canadian Coat of Arms are now understood to be the royal arms of the Queen of Canada. An escutcheon of what were the deputed Arms of Canada can be found next to the speaker's chair being held by a unicorn, on the opposition side, and a parallel escutcheon of the Arms of the United Kingdom can be found held by a lion, on the government side.

In response to a campaign by Bruce Hicks for the Canadianization of symbols of royal authority and to advance the identity of parliamentary institutions, a proposal that was supported by Speakers of the House of Commons John Fraser and Gilbert Parent, a Commons committee was eventually struck following a motion by MP Derek Lee, before which Hicks and Robert Watt, the first Chief Herald of Canada, were called as the only two expert witnesses, though Senator Serge Joyal joined the committee on behalf of the Senate. Commons' Speaker Peter Milliken then asked the governor general to authorize such a symbol. In the United Kingdom, the House of Commons and the House of Lords use the royal badge of the portcullis, in green and red respectively, to represent those institutions and to distinguish them from the government, the courts and the monarch. The Canadian Heraldic Authority on 15 April 2008 granted the House of Commons, as an institution, a badge consisting of the chamber's mace (as described above) behind the escutcheon of the shield of the Royal Arms of Canada (representing the Queen herself, in whose name the House of Commons deliberates).