Today was the first day of the first session of the 40th Parliament of Canada, and the recently-elected members of the House of Commons in turn re-elected Peter Milliken to serve as their Speaker. This election was interesting because it took most of the day to complete, which is much longer than usual, and afforded an opportunity to see its peculiar rules in action.

The election of the Speaker is governed by sections 2 through 6 in Chapter I of the Standing Orders of the House of Commons. Those who would like to follow along in the minutes should refer themselves to the Journals of the House of Commons for today’s date.

The first major peculiarity of the Speaker election process is that all eligible members of the House are deemed to be nominated automatically, and must formally withdraw if they do not wish to contest the office. This withdrawal can be submitted in writing to the Clerk of the House in advance of the meeting, but there are always a few members who only withdraw orally when the temporary chairman issues the last call. Today, eight members withdrew during the meeting, leaving eight real contenders.

Once the list of candidates is finalized for the first ballot, each candidate gives a five-minute speech, and the members proceed to vote; no other debate is permitted. The balloting process itself is quite normal, using a secret, non-Australian ballot. However, when the Clerk and her staff retire to count the ballots, the report they produce is very different from what is seen, or at least what should be seen, in most ordinary societies. To wit, the report simply names the victor, if a majority is achieved by one candidate, or else declares “no election” and lists the members who remain eligible for the second ballot—which is every candidate except the one(s) who received the least number of votes and any who received fewer than 5% of the votes. Additionally, the Clerk destroys the ballots before giving her report, and is sworn to secrecy as to the actual vote count. In today’s election, the first ballot resulted in no election, and pared the list of candidates from eight down to six.

The second and subsequent ballots are handled in the same manner as the first, with at least one candidate being removed from the contention at each step, until a majority is achieved by one candidate. At each step, candidates may voluntarily withdraw from contention. The election held today resulted in the re-election of the incumbent Peter Milliken, who defeated Andrew Scheer and Mervin Tweed on the fifth and final ballot.

So, the major differences between the election of the Speaker, and an election of officers by secret ballot in an ordinary society, are as follows:

1. All eligible candidates for Speaker are nominated automatically and must withdraw if desired, which is the opposite of the ordinary practice.
2. Debate on the election of the Speaker is strictly limited to speeches by the candidates, rather than allowing a full and free debate as for any other motion, which is the rule in ordinary societies
3. The Clerk’s report of the results of balloting contains no numerical detail, whereas in an ordinary society the report would list the number of votes for each candidate, and more.
4. In the Speaker’s election, electors may only vote for those who are recognized candidates, and may not write in a vote for any other eligible person, as would be the case in an ordinary society. As a corollary to this, the House permits the secret ballot to be skipped if there remains only one candidate, whereas in an ordinary society that would be strictly forbidden.
5. After each round of balloting, the Clerk of the House removes one or more names from the list of candidates, based on poor showing on that ballot. In an ordinary society, names are not removed from the ballot in this manner.

Despite these five major differences, the kind of secret ballot voting that goes on in the House of Commons is substantially similar to what most people see in their own local associations. In particular, the ideas of majority vote and repeat balloting are shared. And of course, who could miss the indefatigable staffer passing note after note to the temporary chairman, and occasionally whispering in his ear? Although his title is Procedural Clerk, his role is very nearly equivalent to that of a professional parliamentarian in a voluntary society. Although his name was never mentioned on TV, and he shared in little of the pomp and ceremony, it was no doubt his knowledge of these rules and procedures that ensured a smooth election.