Leader of the Opposition in the Senate of Canada

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Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Chef de l'opposition au Sénat
Larry Smith.png
Incumbent
Larry Smith
since April 1, 2017
Style The Honourable
Member of Senate of Canada
AppointerElected by the caucus of the official opposition in the Senate
Inaugural holder Luc Letellier de St-Just
Formation1 July 1867
DeputyDeputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate
Salary$186,900 (2017) [1]
Canada
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In Canada, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (French : Chef de l'opposition au Sénat) is the leader of the largest party in the Senate not in government.

Canada Country in North America

Canada is a country in the northern part of North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic to the Pacific and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering 9.98 million square kilometres, making it the world's second-largest country by total area. Canada's southern border with the United States is the world's longest bi-national land border. Its capital is Ottawa, and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. As a whole, Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its land area being dominated by forest and tundra. Consequently, its population is highly urbanized, with over 80 percent of its inhabitants concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, many near the southern border. Canada's climate varies widely across its vast area, ranging from arctic weather in the north, to hot summers in the southern regions, with four distinct seasons.

French language Romance language

French is a Romance language of the Indo-European family. It descended from the Vulgar Latin of the Roman Empire, as did all Romance languages. French evolved from Gallo-Romance, the spoken Latin in Gaul, and more specifically in Northern Gaul. Its closest relatives are the other langues d'oïl—languages historically spoken in northern France and in southern Belgium, which French (Francien) has largely supplanted. French was also influenced by native Celtic languages of Northern Roman Gaul like Gallia Belgica and by the (Germanic) Frankish language of the post-Roman Frankish invaders. Today, owing to France's past overseas expansion, there are numerous French-based creole languages, most notably Haitian Creole. A French-speaking person or nation may be referred to as Francophone in both English and French.

Senate of Canada upper house of the Parliament of Canada

The Senate of Canada is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada, along with the House of Commons and the Monarch. The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords and consists of 105 members appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. Seats are assigned on a regional basis: four regions—defined as Ontario, Quebec, the Maritime provinces, and the Western provinces—each receive 24 seats, with the remaining portions of the country—Newfoundland and Labrador receiving 6 seats and the three northern territories each assigned the remaining one seat. Senators may serve until they reach the age of 75.

Contents

Even though the position's name is very similar to the Leader of the Opposition in the House of Commons (the Opposition House Leader), the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate's role is more analogous to the Leader of the Official Opposition because its holder is the leader of the party's Senate caucus. The responsibilities that, in the House of Commons, are done by the house leaders—including day-to-day scheduling of business—are undertaken in the Senate by Government and Opposition deputy leaders and Opposition whips. [2]

The Leader of Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition is the leader of Canada's Official Opposition, the party possessing the most seats in the House of Commons that is not the governing party or part of the governing coalition. The current Leader of the Opposition is Andrew Scheer, M.P., who was elected Leader of the Conservative Party on May 27, 2017.

Selection

Since it is the House of Commons of Canada that determines what party(ies) form government, the size of party caucuses in the Senate bear no relation to which party forms the government side in the Senate and which party forms the opposition. Thus, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate may lead more Senators than the Leader of the Government in the Senate. Since, normally senators have longer tenure than MPs, this is often the case immediately following a change in government, until the new prime minister can appoint more people from their party.

House of Commons of Canada Lower house of the Canadian Parliament

The House of Commons of Canada is a component of the Parliament of Canada, along with the Sovereign and the Senate. The House of Commons currently meets in a temporary Commons chamber in the West Block of the parliament buildings on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, while the Centre Block, which houses the traditional Commons chamber, undergoes a ten-year renovation.

A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The term originated in the United States, but has spread to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and Nepal. As the use of the term has been expanded, the exact definition has come to vary among political cultures.

The Leader of the Opposition in the Senate is not necessarily from the same party as the opposition in the House of Commons. From 1993 until 2003 the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate was a Progressive Conservative despite the fact the Progressive Conservatives were not the Official Opposition in the House of Commons. The Official Opposition in the Commons; (Bloc Québécois, Reform, Canadian Alliance) did not have Senate representation. This scenario repeated itself following the results of the 2011 election that saw the Liberal Party lose Official Opposition status in the House to the New Democratic Party — since the NDP has no representation in the Senate (and favours abolition of the chamber) the Liberals would form the Official Opposition in the Senate.

Progressive Conservative Party of Canada Former Canadian political party

The Progressive Conservative Party of Canada (PC) was a federal political party in Canada.

Bloc Québécois political party

The Bloc Québécois (BQ) is a federal political party in Canada devoted to Quebec nationalism and the promotion of Quebec sovereignty. The Bloc was formed by Members of Parliament who defected from the federal Progressive Conservative Party and Liberal Party during the collapse of the Meech Lake Accord. Founder Lucien Bouchard was a cabinet minister in the federal Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney.

Reform Party of Canada

The Reform Party of Canada was a right-wing populist federal political party in Canada that existed from 1987 to 2000. Reform was founded as a Western Canada-based protest movement and eventually became a populist conservative party, with strong social conservative elements. It was initially motivated by the perceived need for democratic reforms and by profound Western Canadian discontent with the Progressive Conservative (PC) federal government of Brian Mulroney.

There are no set rules governing the manner in which the position is filled from within caucuses. When the Conservative Party and its predecessor the Progressive Conservative party have been in opposition, the party’s Senate caucus has historically elected its own leader, although as noted by John Williams in a 1956 book on the Conservative party it may choose to follow the wishes of the national leader. [3]

Senator Jacques Flynn was unopposed in 1967 after being encouraged to seek the position by the then national leader Robert Stanfield. [4] However, Senators John Lynch Staunton in 1993 [5] and Noël Kinsella in 2004 [6] were elected by their colleagues over other contenders. In a November 10, 2015 Canadian Press story, Senator Claude Carignan referenced his election to the position of Senate Opposition Leader. [7] Senator Larry Smith was elected Senate Opposition Leader on March 28, 2017, defeating Senators Linda Frum and Stephen Greene in a vote of the Conservative Senate caucus. [8]

Jacques Flynn, was a Canadian politician and Senator.

Robert Stanfield Canadian politician, Premier of Nova Scotia and Federal Leader of the Queens Loyal Opposition

Robert Lorne Stanfield, was the 17th Premier of Nova Scotia and leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. He was born into an affluent Nova Scotia clothing manufacturing and political family in 1914. He graduated from Dalhousie University and Harvard Law School in the 1930s. Stanfield became the leader of the Nova Scotia Progressive Conservative Party in 1948, and after a rebuilding period, led the party to government in 1956. As premier, he won three straight elections. His government was credited with modernizing the way the province delivered education and medical services. In 1967, he resigned as premier and became the leader of the federal Progressive Conservative Party. He was the leader of the Her Majesty's Loyal Opposition and fought three general elections, losing each time to the Liberals under Pierre Trudeau. He resigned as leader in 1976 and from public office in 1979. In retirement, he lived mostly in Ottawa, and died there in 2003 from complications due to pneumonia. He is sometimes referred to as "the best prime minister Canada never had". As one of Canada's most distinguished and respected statesmen, he was one of several people granted the style "The Right Honourable" who were not so entitled by virtue of an office held.

Noël Kinsella Canadian politician

Noël Augustus Kinsella, is a Canadian politician and was Speaker of the Senate of Canada from 2006 to 2014.

The traditional practice of the Liberal party in opposition had been for their national leader to select their leader in the Senate.

On the morning of January 29, 2014, Justin Trudeau announced that Liberal Senators would no longer be members of the national Liberal caucus, and wrote to Senate Speaker Noël Kinsella to advise him that "Senators, who were previously members of the Liberal National Parliamentary Caucus, are no longer members of this Caucus, and as such, are independent Senators." (Debates of the Senate, January 29, 2014).

When the Senate met in the afternoon, the first order of business was a discussion of that status of the Liberal Senators, and that of their leader.

Senator Jim Cowan informed the Senate that the Liberal Senators remained Liberals, and that "when we met this morning following Mr. Trudeau's announcement, my colleagues voted to confirm our leadership team. Accordingly, I will continue to serve as Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. Senator Fraser was similarly elected to serve as deputy leader, Senator Munson as our caucus whip and Senator Hubley as deputy whip. As well, Senator Mitchell will continue as chair of our caucus." (Debates of the Senate, January 29, 2014).

Following a lengthy discussion, the Senate Speaker ruled that the Liberal Senators met the definition under the Senate rules of being a caucus of at least five Senators of the same political party, that the rules state that the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate is the head of the party other than the government party with the most Senators, and that "as has been indicated by Senator Cowan, he has been elected by his colleagues and, therefore, meets the definition of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate." (Debates of the Senate, January 29, 2014).

List of Leaders of the Opposition in the Senate

Name [9] PartyTook OfficeLeft Office
     Luc Letellier de St-Just Liberal July 1, 1867November 5, 1873
     Alexander Campbell Conservative November 7, 1873October 8, 1878
    Sir Richard William Scott Liberal October 8, 1878April 27, 1896
    Sir Mackenzie Bowell Conservative April 27, 1896March 1, 1906
    Sir James Alexander Lougheed Conservative April 1, 1906October 6, 1911
    Sir Richard John Cartwright Liberal October 6, 1911September 24, 1912
    Sir George William Ross Liberal September 24, 1912March 7, 1914
     Hewitt Bostock Liberal March 19, 1914January 1, 1919
     Raoul Dandurand Liberal January 1, 1919December 31, 1919
     Hewitt Bostock (2nd time) Liberal January 1, 1920December 28, 1921
    Sir James Alexander Lougheed (2nd time) Conservative December 28, 1921November 2, 1925
     William Benjamin Ross Conservative January 1, 1926June 28, 1926
     Raoul Dandurand (2nd time) Liberal June 29, 1926December 31, 1926
     William Benjamin Ross (2nd time) Conservative December 31, 1926January 10, 1929
     Wellington Bartley Willoughby Conservative January 11, 1929August 7, 1930
     Raoul Dandurand (3rd time) Liberal August 7, 1930October 22, 1935
     Arthur Meighen Conservative October 22, 1935January 16, 1942
     Charles Colquhoun Ballantyne Conservative January 16, 1942December 10, 1942
     Progressive Conservative December 11, 1942September 11, 1945
     John Thomas Haig Progressive Conservative September 12, 1945June 20, 1957
     William Ross Macdonald Liberal June 20, 1957April 21, 1963
     Alfred Johnson Brooks Progressive Conservative April 22, 1963October 31, 1967
     Jacques Flynn Progressive Conservative October 31, 1967June 3, 1979
     Ray Perrault Liberal June 3, 1979March 2, 1980
     Jacques Flynn (2nd time) Progressive Conservative March 3, 1980September 16, 1984
     Allan MacEachen Liberal September 16, 1984November 30, 1991
     Royce Herbert Frith Liberal November 30, 1991October 25, 1993
     John Lynch-Staunton Progressive Conservative October 25, 1993February 1, 2004
  Conservative February 2, 2004September 30, 2004
  Noël A. Kinsella Conservative October 1, 2004February 7, 2006
     Dan Hays Liberal February 8, 2006January 18, 2007
     Céline Hervieux-Payette Liberal January 18, 2007November 3, 2008
  Jim Cowan Liberal November 3, 2008January 29, 2014
  Senate Liberal Caucus January 29, 2014November 5, 2015
  Claude Carignan Conservative November 5, 2015March 31, 2017
  Larry Smith Conservative April 1, 2017Incumbent

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Indemnities, Salaries and Allowances". Parliament of Canada.
  2. ↑ "Senate of Canada - Fact Sheet - Key roles in the Senate". Parl.gc.ca. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  3. ↑ John R. Williams, The Conservative Party of Canada 1920 to 1949, Duke University Press, 1956, pg. 193.
  4. ↑ Jacques Flynn, Un Bleu du Québec à Ottawa, Editions Du Septentrion, 1998 pg. 207
  5. ↑ Tories get new Senate leader; Toronto Star. Toronto, Ont.: December 15, 1993
  6. ↑ Sean Gordon, Tories elect leader in Senate; National Post, September 30, 2004
  7. ↑ http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/conservative-senate-leader-vows-not-to-abuse-majority-to-thwart-trudeau-liberals-agenda
  8. ↑ http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/larry-smith-conservative-leader-senate-1.4044188
  9. ↑ "Political Officers - Senate - Leaders of the Opposition 1867 to Date". Parliament of Canada.
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