Selection and Appointment of Clerks in Canadian Jurisdictions.

• Author: Deller, Deborah

Clerks hold a critically important position in Canada's parliamentary assemblies. Yet the path they take to the role is generally not well known or understood. In this article, the author outlines a Clerk's role and responsibilities, how they cultivate their procedural knowledge, and how the selection and appointment process for position has developed.

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Over 40 years ago, I walked through the doors of the Ontario Legislative Building for the very first time. I had just returned from backpacking in Europe, was on my way to university and was in need of a job.

I had heard about an opening for a tour guide position. I applied and was lucky enough to be given an interview. Serendipity has played a part throughout my career and it certainly helped me out on that day.

During the interview I was asked what my dress size was. I answered that I was a size 7 (which in those days was true). That, as it turned out, was the right answer. New uniforms had just been purchased and one of the tour guides had quit. She was a size 7--so they were looking for someone to fit into her uniform. Being eminently qualified, I got the job!

In the 37 years that I was employed full time at the Legislative Assembly I held numerous positions before retiring in 2016 as its Clerk. In my career, I bore witness to a great many significant changes in the procedural and administrative operations of the Assembly. For one thing, it no longer hires people based on their dress size!

Debates became televised as did committee hearings; a website was developed; computers became commonplace; and scissors and glue sticks were no longer required tools used to prepare the house documents. Security became a greater concern than ever before and global issues started to find their way to the steps of the legislative building.

This modernization brought its share of challenges. Many legislatures reside in old buildings ill-equipped for such things as computer cables and security apparatus. An information-insistent public requires more data in less time than ever before in our history and our parliamentary procedures have struggled to keep pace.

These changes have necessitated an increase in staff and budget. When I first began working there, Ontario's Office of the Assembly essentially consisted of the Clerk's office, Hansard, the Library, and a combined Finance and Human Resources office that fit into what is now a committee room. Today, every service available to Members is provided by the Office of the Assembly under the supervision of the Clerk. These now include, among other things: broadcast and recording, parliamentary and public relations, research, information and technology, and security and building management.

There are a myriad of services and facilities available and necessary to Members today that were not available before the early 70s. (1) A modern parliamentary democracy requires the support of a robust, non-partisan and professional procedural and administrative team. In Canadian legislatures, this team is managed by the Clerk. These days, the Clerk not only needs to be an expert on parliamentary procedure, but also needs to be the chief permanent officer responsible for a disparate and crucial set of administrative services.

In his 1994 address to the Canadian Study of Parliament Group, Sir Clifford Boulton, the former Clerk of the British House of Commons, said:

The whole service must be efficiently and effectively managed. It must be seen as a complete parliamentary service. I do not think it can become compartmentalized. I do not think one can say one service can act totally in ignorance or independence of what another service is planning. The whole thing must be drawn together in some way by some organization or some person who is prepared to take responsibility for giving that coordinated service. (2) While the job has seen an expanded administrative role over time, the Clerk is still first and foremost a specialist in parliamentary law and procedure. Professor C.E.S. Franks noted that "The quality of the advice the speaker receives on procedure and other matters is crucial. The speaker's adviser on procedure is the Clerk of the House of Commons." (3)

It is a unique position for which, on the procedural side, there is little formal training.

There have been occasional relationships developed between academic and parliamentary institutions that have sought to address procedural education, however. Notable among these was an agreement established in 2007 between Laval University and the National Assembly of Quebec which created the Research Chair of Democracy and Parliamentary Institutions. The agreement saw the creation of a specialized course in parliamentary law and procedure. (4)

By and large, the procedural knowledge is learned on the job. Hired into entry positions such as committee clerk, there has been largely a "learning by...