Throne Speech expected in October

Parliament will be prorogued this fall, with a Speech from the Throne outlining the government's priorities until the 2015 election, according to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

"October is our tentative timing," Harper told reporters Monday in Whitehorse.

The current calendar calls for the House of Commons to resume sitting on Monday, Sept. 16.

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Prorogation ends a session of Parliament, allowing the government to return with a new throne speech. According to House of Commons Procedure and Practice:

Prorogation is the formal ending of a session of Parliament, either by a special ceremony held in the Senate Chamber or by a Governor General’s proclamation to that effect. Prorogation also refers to the period of time a Parliament stands prorogued.

Traditionally, the House was summoned to the Senate to hear the Governor General (or the Deputy of the Governor General) deliver a speech reviewing the accomplishments of the session, and to hear the Speaker of the Senate read a message containing the date for the opening of the new session. Prorogation has not taken place in this manner since 1983.

Harper also confirmed that he would lead the Conservative party into the next election campaign.

►Read and watch the 2011 Speech from the Throne:

Speech from the Throne - 2011 by 247politics

►About the Speech from the Throne

Parliament begins each session with a day of stately pageantry that includes a speech by the Governor General (or the monarch if they are in Canada) setting out the government’s agenda and priorities – and summoning parliamentarians back to work.

In 1984 the Montreal Gazette said the event might have “mystified Canadians watching on television." In fact, these traditions trace their lineage back to 16^th-century England. The Usher of the Black Rod and Speaker of the House lead MPs to the Senate chamber for the speech, since senators and the Governor General are not allowed inside the House of Commons. The Governor General, meanwhile, leads a ceremonial procession from Rideau Hall to Parliament Hill.

• The government writes the speech, which MPs debate for up to six days after returning to the Commons. The process begins with a motion by two government backbenchers to consider an Address in Reply: a short statement of thanks to the Governor General for providing the speech. Debate begins with “Leaders’ Day” and a speech by the leader of the opposition. By tradition the prime minister speaks next, followed by the other party leaders.


• The royal representative almost always reads the Speech from the Throne. Sometimes the monarch performs the duty themselves. King George VI read the 1939 speech during a pre-war royal visit to Canada. Queen Elizabeth II did the same in 1957 and 1977. Whether a king, queen, or governor general delivers the speech, its text is entered onto parchment and presented to the Crown by the Speaker of the House.


• The Speech from the Throne is almost always delivered mid-afternoon. But the October 2007 address was held at 6:35pm ET. Amidst heightened election speculation, critics accused Prime Minister Stephen Harper and the Conservatives of reducing the opposition’s ability to respond before that night’s newscasts and newspaper deadlines.

One tradition remains peculiar to the Palace of Westminster in London, though. The cellars there are searched before every opening of Parliament in a ceremonial nod to the foiled 1605 Gunpowder Plot that would have blown up the House Lords and killed King James I as the beginning of a Catholic revolt in England.

-Andrew Thomson