Speaker of the Canadian Senate | |
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Style | The Honourable |
Appointer | Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister |
Term length | At Her Majesty's pleasure |
Inaugural holder | Joseph Édouard Cauchon |
Formation | November 5, 1867 |
Salary | $208,000 (2017) |
The Speaker of the Senate of Canada (French: Président du Sénat du Canada) is the presiding officer of the Senate of Canada. The Speaker represents the Senate at official functions, rules on questions of parliamentary procedure and parliamentary privilege, and presides over debates and voting in the "Red Chamber". The current Speaker is George Furey who assumed office upon nomination by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on December 3, 2015, succeeding Leo Housakos.
The Speaker of the Senate is appointed by the Governor General of Canada, on behalf of the Canadian Monarch, and on the Constitutional advice of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. By convention, however, this advice is generally expressed exclusively by the Prime Minister of Canada (the "Governor-in-Council").
The Speaker of the Senate of Canada takes precedence only after the Queen of Canada, Elizabeth II, her Viceroy, the Governor General of Canada, other members of the Canadian Royal Family, former Governors General of Canada and their spouses, the Prime Minister of Canada, former Prime Ministers of Canada, and the Chief Justice of Canada in the Canadian Order of Precedence—and, therefore, is qualified to represent Canada at official state functions, both in Canada and abroad.