New Speaker of the Senate

Prime Minister Jean Chrétien announced the appointment of Dan Hays as Speaker of the Senate on January 26, 2001.

Dan Hays was born in Calgary, Alberta, in 1939. He was appointed to the Senate on June 29, 1984 to represent Alberta. He was appointed Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate on October 12, 1999. At the time of his appointment, to the Senate, Mr. Hays was Chair of the Executive Committee of Macleod Dixon, one of the largest law firms in Western Canada. He is also a highly successful rancher and farmer.

New Speaker of the House of Commons

Peter Milliken was born and raised in Kingston, Ontario.  He was educated at Queen’s, Oxford, and Dalhousie Universities.  In 1973, he was called to the bar of Ontario and enrolled as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Ontario.  Mr. Milliken was a partner in a Kingston law firm from 1973 until 1988 before his election to Parliament.  He was first elected to the House of Commons in 1988 as the Liberal Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands and was re-elected in 1993, 1997 and 2000.

He has held several positions including, in opposition, Party Critic for Election Reform and Associate Critic for Seniors, Assistant Party House Leader (House Business), Vice-Chairman of the Special Committee on Electoral Reform and Member of the Standing Committee on House Management.

 In government, Mr. Milliken has served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Procedure and House Affairs and Co-Chair of the Special Joint Committee on a Code of Conduct.  In 1997, Mr. Milliken was elected Deputy Speaker of the House, and Chairman of the Committees of the Whole House.  He is also a member of the Board of Internal Economy.

In 1997, he was awarded the Padre Laverty Award from the Queen’s University Alumni Association in Kingston. In November, 1999, he received the Agnes Benidickson Award from the Queen’s University Alumni Association in Ottawa.

Eighteenth Canadian Presiding Officers Conference

The Presiding Officers of Canada’s federal,  provincial and territorial legislatures meet annually to discuss issues relating to their office.  This year the meeting was held in Fredericton, New Brunswick from January 25-28.  The host of the Conference was Speaker Bev Harrison of New Brunswick. Every legislature was represented except the House of Commons where preparations were underway for the Opening of the 37^th Parliament on January 29, 2001.  

The First session was chaired by Speaker Jean-Pierre Charbonneau of Quebec dealt with “Changing Procedural Authorities” and featured a paper by Bev Bosiak, Deputy Clerk of the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba. Speaker Mildred Dover made a presentation on the “Functioning of Boards of Internal Economy” in the second session which was chaired by Speaker Ron Osika of Saskatchewan. Speaker Murray Scott of Nova Scotia chaired the third session which dealt with “Declarations of Outside Interests”.  A paper on this topic was presented by Gary O’Brien Deputy Clerk of the Senate. Speaker Ken Kowalski chaired the session on Speakers Alternative to Findings of Privilege. Claude DesRosiers, Clerk of the Ontario Legislative Assembly presented a paper on this subject.  Speaker Lloyd Snow of Newfoundland chaired a session which looked at rules limiting debate and whether they constitute a threat to parliamentary democracy.  A paper was presented by Pierre Duchesne, Secretary General of the Quebec National Assembly.

There were also two round table discussions chaired by Speakers George Hickes of Manitoba and Kevin O’Brien of Nunavut.  These dealt with  procedural developments in each Jurisdictions.  Each jurisdiction was given eight minutes to summarise recent developments.