Green party’s Elizabeth May open to running for House Speaker, joining Carney cabinet

Rob Buffam describes Elizabeth May's election win as an emotional one, giving the Green Party one seat in Parliament.

Green party Leader Elizabeth May, the lone member of her party to be re-elected, says she’s open to throwing her hat in the ring for Speaker of the House when the next Parliament begins.

“I’m open to lots of things,” May said in an interview with CTV News on Wednesday. “It doesn’t mean they’re at all likely, and they’re pretty hypothetical.”

“I’ve left my name in the lineup in the Speaker’s elections quite a few times without campaigning to be Speaker,” she added. “But I have very, very concerns about how far the Canadian Parliament and the role of the Canadian Speaker have departed from our rules and our traditions.”

According to House of Commons procedure, electing a Speaker of the House is the first step of a new parliamentary session, second only to the swearing in of MPs.

The duties of the House of Commons Speaker extend beyond the role Canadians most often see them play, as the impartial adjudicator of House proceedings, maintaining order and decorum while interpreting parliamentary rules.

The Speaker also has key administrative and managerial functions, as well as ceremonial and diplomatic responsibilities when they act as a representative of the Canadian Parliament.

Speakers are required to act in a nonpartisan manner, and once chosen by their peers, the MP donning the robe will no longer participate in caucus meetings held by the party they were elected to represent. In the role, the Speaker never participates in debate, and only votes in case of a tie.

“I am passionately committed to Parliament working well and to respectful discourse,” May said. “And the Speaker’s job is a critical part of that mix, but at this stage, it’s way too hypothetical.”

She also said “of course, I’m open to it” when asked directly whether she’s interested in the job. “I’ve always wanted to be Speaker. I’m not going to dissemble. I’ve said that many times.”

May said she’s aware the previous session’s Speaker, Liberal Greg Fergus, who took on the role in late 2023, had been working hard at it.

Fergus was first elected to his seat in the Quebec riding of Hull—Aylmer in 2015, and re-elected Monday night.

Asked during her interview with CTV News whether she would be open to a position in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s cabinet, May said with a laugh: “Sure, but it’s pretty hypothetical.”

She added the caveat that she’d be unwilling to give up the Green banner for a position in cabinet, so any seat on Carney’s front bench would be as a member of the party she’s represented in the House since 2011.

With files from CTV News Stephanie Ha and Rachel Aiello