Editing Senate of Canada (section)

==Officers==
{{More citations needed section|date=March 2022}}
The [[Speaker of the Senate of Canada|speaker of the Senate]] is the body's presiding officer and is appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://sencanada.ca/en/about/procedural-references/notes/n9 |year=2017 |title=The Speaker of the Senate: Role and Appointment |publisher=Government of Canada |access-date=March 9, 2018}}</ref> The speaker is assisted by a [[Speaker pro tempore of the Senate of Canada|speaker {{lang|la|cat=no|pro tempore}}]] ('for the time being'), who is elected by the Senate at the beginning of each parliamentary session. If the speaker is unable to attend, the speaker {{lang|la|pro tempore}} presides instead. Furthermore, the ''[[Parliament of Canada Act]]'' authorizes the speaker to appoint another senator to temporarily serve. [[Muriel McQueen Fergusson]] was the Parliament of Canada's first female speaker, holding the office from 1972 to 1974.<ref name="senfocus" />{{Failed verification|date=October 2018}}

The speaker presides over sittings of the Senate and controls debates by calling on members to speak. Senators may raise a point of order if a rule (or standing order) has been breached, on which the speaker makes a ruling. However, the speaker's decisions are subject to appeal to the whole Senate. When presiding, the speaker remains impartial, while maintaining membership in a political party. Unlike the [[Speaker of the House of Commons (Canada)|speaker of the House of Commons]], the speaker of the Senate does not hold a casting vote, but, instead, retains the right to vote in the same manner as any other. As of the [[44th Canadian Parliament|44th Parliament]], Senator [[Raymonde Gagné]] presides as Speaker of the Senate.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}<ref>{{cite web |title=Manitoba Sen. Raymonde Gagné named Speaker of the Senate {{!}} CBC News |date=2023-05-12 |website=[[CBC News]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230513075711/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/raymonde-gagne-speaker-1.6842143 |archive-date=2023-05-13 |url-status=live |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/raymonde-gagne-speaker-1.6842143}}</ref>

The senator responsible for steering legislation through the Senate is the [[representative of the Government in the Senate]], who is a senator selected by the prime minister and whose role is to introduce legislation on behalf of the government. The position was created in 2016 to replace the former position of leader of the Government in the Senate. The [[Official Opposition|opposition]] equivalent is the [[Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (Canada)|leader of the Opposition in the Senate]], selected by the [[Leader of the Opposition (Canada)|leader of the Official Opposition]]. However, if the Official Opposition in the Commons is a different party than the Official Opposition in the Senate (as was the case from 2011 to 2015), then the Senate party chooses its own leader.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

Officers of the Senate who are not members include the clerk, the deputy clerk, the law clerk, and several other clerks. These officers advise the speaker and members on the rules and procedure of the Senate. Another officer is the [[Usher of the Black Rod (Canada)|usher of the Black Rod]], whose duties include the maintenance of order and security within the Senate chamber. The usher of the Black Rod bears a ceremonial black [[ebony]] staff, from which the title "black rod" arises. This position is roughly analogous to that of the [[List of Sergeants-at-Arms of the Canadian House of Commons|sergeant-at-arms in the House of Commons]], but the usher's duties are more ceremonial.