The Speaker of the Canadian Senate is the presiding officer of the Canadian Senate. The role of the speaker is to oversee debate and votes in the upper house, rule on questions of parliamentary procedure and represent the Senate at official state functions. The position is similar to that of the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons. The Speaker of the Senate, however, is not elected by other senators but is appointed by the Governor General of Canada on the advice of the Prime Minister of Canada.

The speaker of the Senate follows the governor general, the prime minister, and the Chief Justice of Canada in the official Canadian order of precedence. The speaker is thus involved in state visits and often meets foreign dignitaries in the speaker's chambers on behalf of Parliament and sometimes is sent abroad to represent the Canadian government at official functions.

The equivalent of the Speaker of the Senate in Britain is the Lord Chancellor of the House of Lords.

List of Speakers of the Senate

• Joseph Edouard Cauchon, November 5 1867 - May 16, 1869, Independent Conservative
• John Ross , May 17 1869 - May 26 1869, Conservative
• Joseph Edouard Cauchon, May 27 1869 - June 2, 1872, Independent Conservative
• Amos Edwin Botsford , June 3 1872 - June 5 1872, Conservative
• Joseph Edouard Cauchon, June 6 1872 - June 30, 1872, Independent Conservative
• Pierre-Joseph-Olivier Chauveau, February 21 1872 - January 8 1874, Conservative
• David Christie , January 9 1874 - October 16 1878, Liberal
• Robert Duncan Wilmot, November 7 1878 - February 10 1880, Conservative
• Sir David Lewis Macpherson , February 11 1880 - February 15 1880, Conservative
• Amos Edwin Botsford , February 16 1880 - April 18 1880, Conservative
• Sir David Lewis Macpherson , April 19 1880 - October 16 1883, Conservative
• William Miller , October 17 1883 - April 3 1887, Liberal-Conservative
• Josiah Burr Plumb , April 4 1887 - March 12 1888, Conservative
• George William Allan, March 17 1883 - April 26 1891, Conservative
• Sir Alexandre Lacoste . April 27 1891 - September 13 1891, Conservative
• John Jones Ross. September 14 1891 - July 12 1896, Conservative
• Sir Charles Alphonse Pantaléon Pelletier , July 13 1896 - January 28 1901, Liberal
• Lawrence Geoffrey Power , January 29 1901 - January 8 1905, Liberal
• Raoul Dandurand, January 9 1905 - January 13 1909, Liberal
• James Kirkpatrick Kerr , January 14 1909 - October 22 1911, Liberal
• Auguste Charles Philippe Landry , October 23 1911 - June 2 1916, Conservative
• Joseph Bolduc , June 3 1916 - February 6 1922 Nationalist Conservative
• Hewitt Bostock, February 7 1922 - May 12 1930, Liberal
• Arthur Charles Hardy , May 13 1930 - September 2 1930, Liberal
• Pierre Édouard Blondin September 3 1930 - January 10 1936, Conservative
• Walter Edward Foster, January 11 1936 - May 8 1940, Liberal
• Georges Parent , May 9 1940 - January 22 1943, Liberal
• Thomas Vien , January 23 1943 - August 23 1945, Liberal
• James Horace King , August 24 1945 - August 2 1949, Liberal
• Elie Beauregard , August 3 1949 - October 13 1953, Liberal
• Wishart McLea Robertson , October 14 1953 - October 3 1957, Liberal
• Mark Robert Drouin , October 4 1957 - September 23 1962, Progressive Conservative
• George Stanley White , September 24 1962 - April 26 1963, Progressive Conservative
• Maurice Bourget , April 27 1963 - January 6 1966, Liberal
• Sydney John Smith , January 7 1966 - September 4 1968, Liberal
• Jean-Paul Deschatelets , September 5, 1968 - December 13 1972, Liberal
• Muriel McQueen Fergusson, December 14 1972 - September 11 1974, Liberal
• Louise Marguerite Renaude Lapointe , September 12 1974 - October 4 1979, Liberal
• Allister Grosart, October 5 1979 - March 3 1980, Progressive Conservative
• Jean Marchand, March 4 1980 - December 15 1983, Liberal
• Maurice Riel, December 16 1983 - November 1 1984, Liberal
• Guy Charbonneau , November 2 1984 - December 6 1993, Progressive Conservative
• Roméo LeBlanc, December 7 1993 - November 21 1994, Liberal
• Gildas L. Molgat, November 22 1994 - January 25 2001, Liberal
• Daniel Philip Hays, January 26 2001 - present, Liberal

External link

Speakers of the Senate official site