Senate Speaker: Hon. Noël Kinsella

[FiveParadox]

:arrow: Speaker of the Senate Appointed!

Today, Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, the Governor General of Canada, summoned the Honourable Noël Kinsella to become the Speaker of the Senate; the appointment takes effect immediately.

The appointment was made on the advice of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada; on the subject of the appointment, the Prime Minister said "Senator Kinsella is respected on both sides of the Senate as an eminent and experienced parliamentarian and I am confident that he will be an excellent Speaker of the Senate."

:arrow: Role of the Speaker of the Senate

The Speaker of the Senate, unlike his counterpart in the House of Commons, has the right to vote on any matter of business before the Chamber (whereas, in the Lower House, the Speaker only casts a vote when the vote is returned to him by the Clerk as an equality); however, as is the case with his counterpart, his primary responsibility is to rule on questions of order and procedure, and to maintain a degree of decorum in the Chamber.

It should be noted, however, that the Senate is far more capable of overruling its Speaker than is true in the Lower Chamber; most decisions of the Speaker, other than those to suspend a sitting due to outbursts or emergencies, can be put before the Chamber by any Senator and vetoed.

 

[Finder]

Nice to see the "reformed" senate which Mr Harper is totally not happening. Not one principal has been changed. some of the easyist principals like the election of the speaker by the senate, people or anybody for that matter, not done. What else can Mr Harper do to disapoint me?

Before this election Harper one redeeming quility in my eyes was he was a electoral reformer.

 

[Lotuslander]

[/b]Five paradox wrote:

It should be noted, however, that the Senate is far more capable of overruling its Speaker than is true in the Lower Chamber; most decisions of the Speaker, other than those to suspend a sitting due to outbursts or emergencies, can be put before the Chamber by any Senator and vetoed.

I have never heard of this before of the Speaker being allowed to vote and being overruled. Where can I find more information.

 

[FiveParadox]

Rules of the Senate of Canada

Keep in mind please, Lotuslander, that the right to vote and the prerogative of the members to overrule him is an exclusive property of the Senate, and does not extend to the House of Commons. In any case, I have found the relevent regulations in the Rules of the Senate of Canada.

In relation to the right of the Speaker of the Senate to vote:

65. (5) Questions arising in the Senate shall be decided by a majority of voices. The Speaker shall in all cases have a vote. When the voices are equal the decision shall be deemed to be in the negative.

In respect of the Senate's right to overrule decisions of the Speaker:

18. (4) Except in accordance with the provisions of rule 37(5), all decisions of the Speaker shall be subject to appeal to the Senate, and such an appeal shall be decided forthwith, without debate.

Note: Rule 37(5) pertains to rulings of the Speaker in regards to the expiration of a Senator's time to speak; this is the only rule in the Rules of the Senate that is not affected by Rule 4.

To view the entire Rules of the Senate of Canada, click here.

 

[Finder]

I think even a lot of the rules with both the house of commons and the Senate should be updated as well. But it would appear that Harper isn't even thinking about these changes in his wildist dreams. I read an article today saying he would have Senate elections come the next election and this would be taken care of by elections Canada. What I don't understand is how are they going to figure in a term limit if any?

It would seem Harper talked the talk but once in, he his gone against his idea's and his idea's about the future of electoral reform are extremely lofty.

Edit: Paradox whats that "board member" stuff about

 

[FiveParadox]

Reforming the Senate

:arrow: Reforming the Senate and the Constitution

If the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, the Prime Minister of Canada, thinks he can get any reform done in the Senate, he had better keep in mind that anything he reforms would need to be done through reforming conventions — reforming the Constitution Acts would be extremely hard to do, in my opinion.

:!: P.S.

Finder, are you referring to the Board Member status indicator near my avatar?

 

[TenPenny]

Wasn't Kinsella one of the controversial Senators appointed by Mulroney to "stack" the Senate, in order to ensure the GST or FreeTrade got passed? I can't remember which. I could be wrong on that; Kinsella is tied to Mulroney for sure.

 

[Finder]

I think he should reform it, and it would give a chance for Quebec to sign on anyhow and take care of other issues.

Of course it could be an act of parliament, or a parliamentarian tradition. *Shrugs* But I agree any long lasting power and a true check to the lower house would need the constitution to be amended.


ps: Yeah how did you get it. I've seen others with it. Is it because you are on the "board of directors"?

edit: 1. spelling corrections

 

[FiveParadox]

Yes, the icon thing is from being on the Board of Directors.

 

[Finder]

elitits.






:twisted:




Just kidding. I was just wondering as one day a few people had them all of a sudden and there was no announcement I could find about them. Since we are all board members in a sence, I was wondering what the hell it ment. Untill I thought it might mean "Board" of directors.

 

[jimmoyer]

I don't know how to print an umlau.

You know that dot dot thing over the letters.