2023 Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada election explained

Election Name:2023 Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada election
Country:Canada
Type:legislative
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2021 Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons election
Previous Year:2021
Election Date:October 3, 2023
1Blank:Constituency
Candidate2:Sean Casey
1Data2:Charlottetown
2Data2:Not elected
Candidate3:Chris d'Entremont
1Data3:West Nova
2Data3:Not elected
Candidate1:Greg Fergus
Party1:
1Data1:Hull—Aylmer
2Data1:Winner
Candidate4:Carol Hughes
1Data4:Algoma—Manitoulin—Kapuskasing
2Data4:Not elected
Candidate5:Elizabeth May
1Data5:Saanich—Gulf Islands
2Data5:Not elected
Candidate6:Alexandra Mendès
1Data6:Brossard—Saint-Lambert
2Data6:Not elected
Candidate7:Peter Schiefke
1Data7:Vaudreuil—Soulanges
2Data7:Not elected
Speaker
After Election:Greg Fergus

The 2023 election for Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada took place on October 3, 2023, to elect the 38th speaker of the House of Commons, following the resignation of Speaker Anthony Rota. This was held during the 44th Canadian Parliament.

On September 22, 2023, Speaker Rota invited a former member of the Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary organization, to attend an address from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, triggering his resignation as speaker. Yaroslav Hunka, who fought with the Waffen-SS during World War II was honoured by Rota and received a standing ovation from attendees. Rota apologized for the oversight and announced he would step down on September 26, resigning as speaker the following day.[1]

Greg Fergus, the member of Parliament (MP) for Hull—Aylmer was elected speaker in the election. He is the first person of colour to be elected as speaker,[2] and is the third speaker to be elected during a session of Parliament, joining Thomas Bain and Lloyd Francis.[3]

Background

Anthony Rota, the MP for Nipissing—Timiskaming, was elected as speaker of the House of Commons on December 5, 2019.[4]

On September 22, 2023, following an address to the Canadian parliament by Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Rota introduced and recognized Yaroslav Hunka in the parliamentary galleries. He identified Hunka as a "war hero" who fought for the First Ukrainian Division; subsequent media reports then identified Hunka as a member of the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division (also known as the 1st Galician Division) of Nazi Germany's Waffen-SS during the Second World War; the unit was responsible for anti-partisan atrocities in Poland, Slovakia and the Austria–Slovenia border.[5] Rota apologized, and later resigned on September 26, 2023.

Procedure

The speaker's election rules were introduced in 1986 and are set out in Chapter 7 of the House of Commons Procedure and Practice. All MPs except for ministers of the Crown and party leaders are eligible to run for speaker. Any MP who does not wish to put their name forward must issue a letter withdrawing from the ballot by the day before the vote. All MPs who do not remove their name from the ballot as of ET the day before the election are listed as candidates on the ballot. As this election will occur during a session, the presiding officer during the election would typically be the outgoing speaker or, in the absence of the speaker, the deputy speaker; the election will be presided over by the dean of the House, Louis Plamondon, who was serving as interim speaker. If only one candidate existed, a motion would've been laid before the House to ask if the candidate should take the Chair as Speaker. If the question were challenged, the decision would've been put to a division.

Candidates for election each gave a five-minute speech to the House before voting. The House then voted by secret ballot, using the ranked ballot voting system. Each MP ranked each candidate by preference, and an absolute majority was required. If no candidate won a majority, the individual with the fewest votes was eliminated, as were any candidates who received less than 5 percent of the votes cast until one member received a majority vote.

Election

The following MPs confirmed their intention to run to in the media:

Elected speaker

Candidates

Withdrawn

Notes and References

  1. News: September 26, 2023 . Anthony Rota resigns as Speaker after honouring Ukrainian veteran who fought with Nazi unit . September 27, 2023.
  2. Web site: 2023-10-03 . CP NewsAlert: House of Commons elects Greg Fergus as next Speaker . 2023-10-03 . Toronto Star . en . October 3, 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20231003184735/https://www.thestar.com/politics/house-of-commons-elects-liberal-mp-greg-fergus-as-first-black-canadian-speaker/article_a647846b-4321-548b-a914-4603c87e1ade.html . live .
  3. Book: Bosc, Marc. Gagnon. André. December 14, 2017. 3rd. House of Commons Procedure and Practice. Chapter 7: The Speaker and Other Presiding Officers of the House. Éditions Yvon Blais. September 27, 2023.
  4. News: Tunney . Catharine . Zimonjic . Peter . Harris . Kathleen . Liberal MP Anthony Rota elected Speaker of the House of Commons . September 27, 2023 . CBC News . 5 December 2019 . April 28, 2022 . https://archive.today/20220428115316/https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/speaker-house-of-commons-rota-1.5384728 . live .
  5. News: Ritchie. Sarah. Jewish Groups Demand Apology. CTV News. September 24, 2023. September 26, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20230926004937/https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/jewish-group-demands-apology-after-mps-honoured-man-who-fought-for-nazis-1.6575593?fbclid=IwAR1ZRwpG8vLaBWF6MUrtOzL6y93EP5dvUpCGvD1Gv_qhTcqGvHZVJux3QCU. live.
  6. Glen McGregor . glen_mcgregor . 1707074533503496196 . Conservative MP Chris d'Entremont (current deputy speaker) formally declares his candidacy to succeed Anthony Rota, writing to MPs that the current situation "unfortunate and exceptionally difficult, but our important work as parliamentarians of the House... must continue.". September 27, 2023. September 28, 2023.
  7. News: Yarr. Kevin. Charlottetown MP Sean Casey running for job of Parliamentary Speaker. CBC News. September 28, 2023. September 28, 2023.
  8. Mackenzie Gray . Gray_Mackenzie . 1707065451220549817 . Liberal MP Greg Fergus says he plans on running for speaker. He’s the first Liberal we’ve heard from publicly to say he’s going to run #cdnpoli. September 27, 2023. September 28, 2023.
  9. Sérgio Mourato . OMNITVSergio . 1707036254158610658 . Conservative MP Chris d'Entremont (Deputy Speaker), Liberal MP Alexandra Mendes (Assistant Deputy Speaker), and NDP MP Carol Hughes (Assistant Deputy Speaker), confirmed to run for the full job of Speaker of the House of Commons. #cndpoli. September 27, 2023. September 28, 2023.
  10. Cormac Mac Sweeney . cmaconthehill . 1707387479538426285 . Green Party co-Leader @ElizabethMay has confirmed to me she will be on the ballot to become the new Speaker of the House. However due to her recent health issues will not physically be present for the vote. She does plan to give a virtual speech during the process #cdnpoli. September 27, 2023. September 28, 2023.
  11. Davis Legree . DavisLegree . 1707106900783866357 . Liberal MP and Assistant Deputy Speaker Alexandra Mendès makes her pitch to be the next House speaker. Greg Fergus, also a Liberal, and Chris d’Entremont, the deputy speaker, have also thrown their hats in the ring #cdnpoli. September 27, 2023. September 28, 2023.
  12. News: Aiello. Rachel. What you need to know about the election of a new Speaker. CTV News. October 2, 2023.
  13. https://www.ourcommons.ca/content/ParliamentaryBusiness/Booklet-2023-e.pdf