Reflections on the speakership

What does impartiality in a minority Parliament mean? At all times, the Speaker functions as an adjudicator and even as a peacemaker, but this is particularly the case in a minority Parliament whose Speaker must vigorously defend the rights and privileges of all Members without exception. The Speaker must be respectful of the roles of leaders and whips and know how to deal with them. The Speaker of a minority Parliament should make particular efforts to remind the House regularly that he or she is there to serve all Members and the institution and to enforce only those rules decided upon by the Members themselves. Regardless of the makeup of the House of Commons, the principal tools of accountability remain the same- interventions during Question Period, written questions, the consideration of estimates in committee and the consideration of Opposition motions on Supply Days. In recent years, however, there was an increase in the use of questions of privilege related to issues of accountability when more traditional tools were felt to be ineffective. It will, I hope, be instructive . to examine briefly the role of the Speaker during the daily Question Period and with regard to several pivotal Speakers' rulings in response to questions of privilege concerning the production of documents by the government during the late minority Parliament. In these exercises in accountability, the effectiveness of the Chair rested upon respect for its authority, its perceived respect for Members, individually and collectively, and, perhaps most importantly, on its perceived impartiality. Great importance is attached to matters involving privilege. A Member wishing to raise a question of privilege in the House must first convince the Speaker that his or her concern is prima facie (on the first impression or at first glance) a question of privilege. The function of the Speaker is limited to deciding whether the matter is of such a character as to entitle the Member who has raised the question to move a motion which will have priority over Orders of the Day; that is, in the Speakers opinion, there is a prima facie question of privilege. If there is, the House must take the matter into immediate consideration. Ultimately, it is the House which decides whether a breach of privilege or a contempt has been committed.