The Speaker of the House
Subsequent to the General Election held on October 11, 2011, Members of the 47th General Assembly were sworn/affirmed into office on October 27, 2011. The election of the Speaker occurred that same day.
Speaker of the 47th General Assembly
Hon. Ross Wiseman, M.H.A. Trinity North (2011- )
Role of the Speaker
The office of Speaker is almost as ancient as Parliament itself. It emerged in the Middle Ages when the Commons - the ordinary people - of England needed a spokesman in their dealings with the King, someone who would voice their grievances and present their petitions. This was by no means a safe or easy thing to do at that time, and potential spokesmen generally had to be pressured into accepting the responsibility. In those days the individual chosen spoke for the whole Commons to the King (hence the name "Speaker"), but today's Speaker takes no part in the debates. It is interesting to note that the first occupant of this quintessentially British office, whose name has come down to us from the thirteenth century, was a certain Peter de Montfort.
The Speaker presides over the deliberations of the House, and is its representative. The dignity of the House, the respect owing to it, the privileges it possesses, all rest with the Speaker. An affront to the Speaker is an affront to the House as a whole and may be punishable as a breach of privilege.
A Speaker must abstain from active partisan politics while in office, but is free to remain a party member and to canvass for votes once the House of Assembly has been dissolved.
The Speaker's office carries with it a great deal of prestige. Evidence of this can be found in the ceremony that surrounds parliamentary activities in which the Speaker plays a part. The dignity of the office is underlined in many symbols, including the Speaker's robes, which resemble the courtroom robes of the Queen's Counsel worn in procession. Each sitting of the House is preceded by a Speaker's Parade. The Sergeant-at-Arms goes first, bearing the Mace, and the Clerk of the House and other Table Officers bring up the rear.
Custom requires that Members bow to the Speaker when they enter, leave, or cross the Chamber. When they speak in the House, it is always to the Speaker that they address themselves, usually beginning their remarks with the works "Mr. Speaker". If the Speaker rises to call the House to order or to hand down a decision, silence must prevail. The Speaker may be censured only on a substantive motion subject to a vote of the House. This happens only rarely.
The Mace
 This hand painted wooden Mace is believed to be the original Mace given by the British authorities to the newly elected House of Assembly in 1833. What appears to be this wooden Mace is seen in various photographs taken of Members of the House of Assembly in the late 1800s and early 1900s. When the Mace currently used by the House of Assembly was given to the House in 1950 by the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, the old wooden Mace was placed in storage. In the late 1990s the old Mace was rediscovered and refurbished. |
The Mace is another symbol closely associated with the Speaker. It embodies the ancient authority of the Crown, today exercised by the Assembly. In the House it also represents the authority of the Speaker, because "the authority of the Speaker and of the House are indivisible."
In the Middle Ages the Mace was the weapon of the Sergeant-at-Arms, who was then the King's bodyguard. It was heavy enough to smash armour and was used to defend the King's person from any attacker. It was also used in summoning accused persons before the King for judgement. In the thirteenth century the Mace began to be ornamented with jewels and precious metals, the origin of the elaborate modern Mace. Its shape has changed over the centuries; it no longer looks like a weapon, but rather an ornamental and purely symbolic object.
 This is the mace used in the house today. It was a gift to the house from the Province of British Columbia in honour of Newfoundland becoming the 10th Province of Canada in 1949 |
Nowadays the Mace is an integral part of parliamentary decorum. Without it the House is not constituted and proceedings cannot begin. It is borne on the shoulders of the Sergeant-at-Arms when the Speaker processes from place to place, and when the Speaker is seated in the Chair, the Mace rests on the Table. When the House sits in Committee of the Whole, the Mace is placed below the Table on special brackets
Responsibilities of the Speaker
The responsibilities of the Speaker may be divided into three categories. The first includes presiding in the House and guarding its privileges. The second has to do with representing the House, in its external relationships and at official parliamentary events, in Newfoundland and Labrador and abroad. The third encompasses responsibilities for the internal administration of the House, similar to those of a Minister responsible for a department of government.
Speaker Portraits
The Speakers’ portrait collection which encircles the Chamber of the House of Assembly is a proud testimony to the history and the governance of Newfoundland and Labrador. In 1949, shortly after Newfoundland joined Canada, Premier Joseph Smallwood commissioned the artist Richard Steiger to paint portraits of all of the pre-Confederation Speakers of the House of Assembly. Steiger was paid a lump sum of $6000.00 to deliver 26 framed portraits to the House. When the portraits were completed, the following speech was made in the House of Assembly:
"…we are reminded of the men who played a big part in the pages of Newfoundland history...they should serve us as an example of modesty, to be modest in our own ideas, not to think too much of ourselves, not to feel we are the only statesmen in the world, the only ones that God created in this country. I think I heard someone say one time: ‘The men here are the finest body of men who ever sat in this House.’ "
- John G. Higgins, Leader of the Opposition, while speaking about the hanging of portraits
of pre-Confederation speakers in the House of Assembly in 1951.
In 1949, no likeness of the second Speaker of the House, Thomas Bennett (1788-1872), could be found, thereby preventing his portrait from being painted. The collection remained incomplete until 2008 when, after a three year search of local, national and international sources, a photograph of Speaker Bennett was discovered in England in the private collection of one of Bennett’s descendants. Newfoundland and Labrador artist Gerald Squires was commissioned to paint Thomas Bennett’s portrait, which was unveiled in the Chamber on April 22, 2008, thereby filling a 171 year old gap in our legislative history.
Transcription of the ceremony unveiling Thomas Bennett's portrait.
Past Speakers
| 1833 | John Garland |
| 1834-1837 | Thomas Bennett |
| 1838-1841 | William Carson |
| 1841-1843 | Constitution Suspended |
| 1843-1848 | James Crowdy |
| 1848-1855 | John Kent |
| 1855-1861 | Ambrose Shea |
| 1861-1865 | F.B.T. Carter |
| 1866-1870 | William V. Whiteway |
| 1870-1874 | Thomas R. Bennett |
| 1874-1877 | Prescott Emerson |
| 1877-1879 | James S. Winter |
| 1879-1883 | A.J.W. McNeilly |
| 1883-1885 | Robert Kent |
| 1885-1886 | Robert Bond |
| 1886-1890 | A.J.W. McNeilly |
| 1890-1898 | George Emerson |
| 1898-1901 | Henry Y. Mott |
| 1901-1905 | Lawrence Furlong |
| 1905-1910 | Francis J. Morris |
| 1910-1914 | William R. Warren |
| 1914-1918 | John R. Goodison |
| 1918-1920 | William J. Higgins |
| 1920-1923 | William F. Penny |
| 1923-1924 | Harry A. Winter |
| 1924-1928 | Cyril Fox |
| 1928-1932 | Albert J. Walsh |
| 1933-1934 | James A. Winter |
| 1934-1949 | Responsible Government Suspended |
| 1949-1956 | Reginald F. Sparkes |
| 1956-1962 | John R. Courage |
| 1962-1972 | George W. Clarke |
| 1972-1975 | James Russell |
| 1975-1979 | Gerald R. Ottenheimer |
| 1979-1982 | Leonard Simms |
| 1982-1985 | James Russell |
| 1985-1989 | Patrick McNicholas |
| 1989-1993 | Thomas Lush |
| 1993-1995 | Paul Dicks |
| 1995-2003 | Lloyd Snow |
| 2003-2007 | Harvey Hodder |
| 2007-2011 | Roger Fitzgerald |
| 2011- | Ross Wiseman |