Letter to the editor.

• Author: Jones, Richard
• Position: Letter to the Editor

Sir:

A debate has emerged in the pages of this magazine between what I would call the 'innovationists' and the 'traditionalists' on the new symbol of the Speaker, the baton. This is a small green rod designed by the Chief Herald of Canada and donated to Parliament by former House of Commons Speaker John Fraser.

The public face of this debate has been former journalist and academic Bruce Hicks (Vol. 24, no. 4, 2001) on the innovationist side and Senate Principal Clerk, Procedure, Charles Robert (Vol. 25, no. 3, 2002) on the traditionalist side. I have had the privilege of working with both men and can attest to their strongly held and heartfelt convictions, including their support for Parliamentary tradition. However, because of this respect for the institution, in my opinion, they have both undermined their respective arguments by attempting to find precedent in Britain.

For example, Mr. Hicks has pointed out that Britain's Earl Marshal carries a baton during the opening of Parliament while Mr. Robert has argued that the Earl Marshal cannot be a precedent for the Speaker of the Commons since he is a "Peer of the realm".

For the life of me I cannot understand why British history and the British Parliament are being used for precedents with regards to the Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons.

Unlike the Canadian Speaker, the appointment of the British Speaker must be submitted for the approbation of the Queen. What is more, the "Crown" controls the other end of the process as well. It is so well known whom the Prime Minister and the Cabinet wish to fill the post of Speaker in Britain that their "candidate" is usually elected unopposed.

In Canada, we used to let the Prime Minister and Cabinet choose the Speaker. In fact, it was so blatant here that, unlike in Britain where the pretence of independence is maintained through asking backbenchers to move and second the motion, prior to 1986 the "election" of the Speaker was moved by the Canadian Prime Minister. But then Canada broke entirely with British tradition and the Canadian House of Commons decided to democratically elect its Speaker.

Today, every member of the House of Commons (who is not on the payroll of the Crown) is considered for the position. Repeated balloting is done to ensure that the person who is finally chosen as Speaker has the genuine support of the majority of the members of the House of Commons.

The very first secret ballot election that put John Fraser into the...