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The Speaker runs the House of Commons — deciding who talks, ruling on the rules, disciplining members, and protecting Parliament's rights against the government. Uniquely, they're elected by a secret ballot of all MPs, shed their partisanship on taking the chair, and don't normally vote. This explainer covers how the Speaker is chosen, what powers the office holds, and why its impartiality is a load-bearing part of the system.
The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the elected chamber, chosen at the start of each Parliament (and after a vacancy) by a secret-ballot, preferential vote of all Members of Parliament — a reform adopted in 1986 that took the choice out of the Prime Minister's hands. On taking the chair, the Speaker sets aside party affiliation and presides impartially: recognizing who has the floor, applying and interpreting the Standing Orders, ruling on points of order and questions of privilege, maintaining decorum, and naming (suspending) members who defy the chair. The Speaker also defends the collective rights of the House — its privileges — including against the government, as in the 2011 finding that the government was in contempt of Parliament for withholding documents, a ruling that flowed from the Speaker. By convention the Speaker does not participate in debate and does not vote, except to break a tie; when casting a tie-breaking vote, the Speaker follows established conventions (generally voting to continue debate or to preserve the status quo rather than to decide the matter substantively). The office also administers the House as an institution — its budget, staff, and security — through the Board of Internal Economy.
The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House of Commons — and crucially, **the House chooses its own.**
At the start of each Parliament, MPs elect the Speaker by a **secret-ballot, preferential vote.** Every eligible member who hasn't withdrawn is a candidate; MPs rank or vote in successive rounds until someone has a majority. The secret ballot was adopted in **1986**, and it changed the office fundamentally: before, the Speaker was effectively the Prime Minister's choice, ratified by the House. Now the House picks its own referee, by a vote the government can't see or control.
That origin is the root of the Speaker's independence. An officer chosen *by* the members, in secret, owes their chair to the House as a whole — not to the party leader. It's the structural reason the Speakership can act as a genuine check rather than a government tool.
Speakers are elected as ordinary party MPs. But on taking the chair, they **set their partisanship aside** and are expected to preside with strict impartiality.
In practice that means: not participating in debate, not taking part in caucus in a meaningful way, not campaigning on partisan lines as Speaker, and — above all — **ruling without favour** to either side. The Speaker recognizes who speaks, decides points of order on the rules rather than the politics, and applies the same standards to government and opposition alike.
The office's entire legitimacy rests on this. A Speaker seen as carrying water for the government loses the authority to enforce the rules at all, because the rulings stop being accepted as fair. That's why the impartiality norm is so heavily defended — and why the independent, secret-ballot election that produces the Speaker matters so much.
The Speaker's powers run the chamber:
- **Recognition.** Nobody speaks without being recognized by the chair. The Speaker controls the floor. - **Interpreting the rules.** The Speaker applies and interprets the **Standing Orders**, ruling on **points of order** (procedural disputes) and **questions of privilege** (alleged breaches of Parliament's rights). - **Decorum and discipline.** The Speaker maintains order, can demand members withdraw unparliamentary language, and can **"name" a member** — formally identifying them for defying the chair, which leads to suspension from the House. - **Defending privilege — including against the government.** This is the office's constitutional muscle. When the government refused to provide cost documents a committee had ordered, it was a **Speaker's ruling (March 2011)** that found a *prima facie* case of contempt — leading to the House finding the government in contempt of Parliament, the first such finding in the Commonwealth, which contributed to that government's fall. The Speaker is how the House enforces its rights against the executive. - **One vote, held in reserve.** See below.
Here's the Speakership's defining sacrifice: **the Speaker does not normally vote.**
To preside impartially, the Speaker withdraws from debate and abstains from the divisions everyone else participates in. Their riding still has representation through them on constituency matters, but in the chamber the Speaker is the referee, not a player.
The sole exception is a **tie.** The Speaker holds a **casting vote** and must exercise it when the House is evenly split. And even then, the Speaker doesn't vote their preference — by long-standing convention (the "Speaker Denison's rules" tradition), the casting vote is used to **allow further debate where possible, and otherwise to preserve the status quo**, rather than to decide a substantive question. The idea is that a tie shouldn't be resolved by the one member sworn to neutrality imposing an outcome; it should default to continuing the conversation or leaving things unchanged.
Beyond the chamber, the Speaker also runs the House as an **institution** — its budget, staff, precinct, and security — chairing the **Board of Internal Economy.**
For this site: when we report a procedural ruling, a member being named, or a finding of privilege, the Speaker is the actor. The office is the House's own machinery for making its rules — and its rights against the government — actually stick.
Budget day gets the headlines, but the budget speech doesn't spend a dollar. The legal authority to spend comes from a separate, older, far less televised machine: the estimates and the supply cycle — three fixed periods a year in which the House votes the government its money, with confidence on the line every time. Here is how the pieces actually fit.
Forty-five minutes a day, 35 seconds at a time, and no rule anywhere requiring a minister to answer the question asked. Question Period is the most-watched and least-understood ritual in Canadian politics. Here are the actual Standing Orders behind it — and the quieter, written mechanism that extracts far more information from governments than the daily theatre ever does.
The chamber gets the cameras; committees do the work. Clause-by-clause review, witness testimony, document fights, estimates scrutiny — almost every substantive amendment to a federal bill happens at a committee table, not on the floor of the House. This explainer covers what committees are, what they can and cannot do to a bill, and the structural quirks that decide who controls them.
About this article
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<article>
<h1>The Speaker of the House: Elected by Secret Ballot, Sworn to Impartiality, and the Only MP Who Usually Doesn't Vote.</h1>
<p><em>By Parliament Audit · June 21, 2026 · 5 min read</em></p>
<p><strong>The Speaker of the House of Commons is the presiding officer of the elected chamber, chosen at the start of each Parliament (and after a vacancy) by a secret-ballot, preferential vote of all Members of Parliament — a reform adopted in 1986 that took the choice out of the Prime Minister's hands. On taking the chair, the Speaker sets aside party affiliation and presides impartially: recognizing who has the floor, applying and interpreting the Standing Orders, ruling on points of order and questions of privilege, maintaining decorum, and naming (suspending) members who defy the chair. The Speaker also defends the collective rights of the House — its privileges — including against the government, as in the 2011 finding that the government was in contempt of Parliament for withholding documents, a ruling that flowed from the Speaker. By convention the Speaker does not participate in debate and does not vote, except to break a tie; when casting a tie-breaking vote, the Speaker follows established conventions (generally voting to continue debate or to preserve the status quo rather than to decide the matter substantively). The office also administers the House as an institution — its budget, staff, and security — through the Board of Internal Economy.</strong></p>
<h2>Chosen by the House, not the Prime Minister</h2>
<p>The Speaker is the presiding officer of the House of Commons — and crucially, **the House chooses its own.**</p>
<p>At the start of each Parliament, MPs elect the Speaker by a **secret-ballot, preferential vote.** Every eligible member who hasn't withdrawn is a candidate; MPs rank or vote in successive rounds until someone has a majority. The secret ballot was adopted in **1986**, and it changed the office fundamentally: before, the Speaker was effectively the Prime Minister's choice, ratified by the House. Now the House picks its own referee, by a vote the government can't see or control.</p>
<p>That origin is the root of the Speaker's independence. An officer chosen *by* the members, in secret, owes their chair to the House as a whole — not to the party leader. It's the structural reason the Speakership can act as a genuine check rather than a government tool.</p>
<h2>Partisan no more — the duty of impartiality</h2>
<p>Speakers are elected as ordinary party MPs. But on taking the chair, they **set their partisanship aside** and are expected to preside with strict impartiality.</p>
<p>In practice that means: not participating in debate, not taking part in caucus in a meaningful way, not campaigning on partisan lines as Speaker, and — above all — **ruling without favour** to either side. The Speaker recognizes who speaks, decides points of order on the rules rather than the politics, and applies the same standards to government and opposition alike.</p>
<p>The office's entire legitimacy rests on this. A Speaker seen as carrying water for the government loses the authority to enforce the rules at all, because the rulings stop being accepted as fair. That's why the impartiality norm is so heavily defended — and why the independent, secret-ballot election that produces the Speaker matters so much.</p>
<h2>What the Speaker can actually do</h2>
<p>The Speaker's powers run the chamber:</p>
<p>- **Recognition.** Nobody speaks without being recognized by the chair. The Speaker controls the floor.
- **Interpreting the rules.** The Speaker applies and interprets the **Standing Orders**, ruling on **points of order** (procedural disputes) and **questions of privilege** (alleged breaches of Parliament's rights).
- **Decorum and discipline.** The Speaker maintains order, can demand members withdraw unparliamentary language, and can **"name" a member** — formally identifying them for defying the chair, which leads to suspension from the House.
- **Defending privilege — including against the government.** This is the office's constitutional muscle. When the government refused to provide cost documents a committee had ordered, it was a **Speaker's ruling (March 2011)** that found a *prima facie* case of contempt — leading to the House finding the government in contempt of Parliament, the first such finding in the Commonwealth, which contributed to that government's fall. The Speaker is how the House enforces its rights against the executive.
- **One vote, held in reserve.** See below.</p>
<h2>The member who gives up their vote</h2>
<p>Here's the Speakership's defining sacrifice: **the Speaker does not normally vote.**</p>
<p>To preside impartially, the Speaker withdraws from debate and abstains from the divisions everyone else participates in. Their riding still has representation through them on constituency matters, but in the chamber the Speaker is the referee, not a player.</p>
<p>The sole exception is a **tie.** The Speaker holds a **casting vote** and must exercise it when the House is evenly split. And even then, the Speaker doesn't vote their preference — by long-standing convention (the "Speaker Denison's rules" tradition), the casting vote is used to **allow further debate where possible, and otherwise to preserve the status quo**, rather than to decide a substantive question. The idea is that a tie shouldn't be resolved by the one member sworn to neutrality imposing an outcome; it should default to continuing the conversation or leaving things unchanged.</p>
<p>Beyond the chamber, the Speaker also runs the House as an **institution** — its budget, staff, precinct, and security — chairing the **Board of Internal Economy.**</p>
<p>For this site: when we report a procedural ruling, a member being named, or a finding of privilege, the Speaker is the actor. The office is the House's own machinery for making its rules — and its rights against the government — actually stick.</p>
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Originally published by <a href="https://parliamentaudit.ca/news/the-speaker-of-the-house-powers-election-and-impartiality">Parliament Audit</a>
under the <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND 4.0</a> license.
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