A distinguished educator and lawyer with deep roots in the community, the Honourable George J. Furey. Q.C. is a native of Newfoundland and Labrador and currently serves as the 45th Speaker of the Senate of Canada. He was appointed to the Senate on August 11, 1999, and is the first Speaker from the province.
Speaker Furey attended Memorial University in Newfoundland and Labrador where he earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1970 and a Bachelor of Education Degree in 1970; he also completed a Masters of Education Degree from Memorial in 1976. During his career as an educator, he was a teacher with the Roman Catholic School Board in St. John's, a Supervising Vice-Principal with the Port-au-Port Roman Catholic School Board and a Supervising Principal of the Placentia-St. Mary's Roman Catholic School Board.
After a successful career in education from 1969-1980, he attended Dalhousie Law School and completed a Bachelor of Law Degree in 1983.
Speaker Furey was called to the Bar of the Law Society of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1984 and was subsequently named a partner at the St. John's law firm of O'Brien, Furey & Hurley. While in his second year of practicing law, he successfully challenged the Criminal Code language on sexual assault and proved that with the advent of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, certain Criminal Code provisions were unconstitutional. In 1989, he was named Senior Partner at the firm O'Brien, Furey & Smith and in 1993 was appointed to the Provincial Police Complaints Commission. He was subsequently appointed as Queen's Counsel in 1996.
Speaker Furey is a widely respected community leader, giving his time to numerous voluntary groups, professional boards and provincial commissions, including: the Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association; The Boy Scouts of Canada; St. Clare's Mercy Hospital Ethics Committee and the Gonzaga High School Council.
He has proudly served his fellow Canadians since his appointment to the Senate and has been especially committed to advancing the interests of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in the Parliament of Canada.
Speaker Furey and his wife, Karen, have four children: Andrew (Allison), Meghan (Ben), Rebecca (Mike) and David. They also have seven grandchildren.
Listed below are the current leadership and officers for the 117th Congress. Also available on Senate.gov are historical essays on and lists of Senate leadership and Senate officers.
Constitutionally Mandated Officers
About the Offices of the Vice President and President Pro Tempore
Political Party Leaders
About Leadership Positions
Democratic Leadership
Democratic Leader Chairman of the Conference
Schumer,
Charles E.
(D-NY)
Majority Whip
Durbin,
Richard J.
(D-IL)
Assistant Democratic Leader
Murray,
Patty
(D-WA)
Chair of Policy & Communications Committee
Stabenow,
Debbie
(D-MI)
Vice Chair of Conference
Warren,
Elizabeth
(D-MA)
Vice Chair of Conference
Warner,
Mark R.
(D-VA)
Chair of Steering Committee
Klobuchar,
Amy
(D-MN)
Chair of Outreach
Sanders,
Bernard
(I-VT)
Vice Chair of Outreach
Cortez Masto,
Catherine
(D-NV)
Vice Chair of Policy & Communications Committee
Manchin,
Joe, III
(D-WV)
Vice Chair of Policy & Communications Committee
Booker,
Cory A.
(D-NJ)
Secretary of the Conference
Baldwin,
Tammy
(D-WI)
Republican Leadership
Committee Chairmen
Standing Committees
Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Chairwoman
Stabenow,
Debbie
(D-MI)
Appropriations Chairman
Leahy,
Patrick J.
(D-VT)
Armed Services Chairman
Reed,
Jack
(D-RI)
Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Chairman
Brown,
Sherrod
(D-OH)
Budget Chairman
Sanders,
Bernard
(I-VT)
Commerce, Science, and Transportation Chairwoman
Cantwell,
Maria
(D-WA)
Energy and Natural Resources Chairman
Manchin,
Joe, III
(D-WV)
Environment and Public Works Chairman
Carper,
Thomas R.
(D-DE)
Finance Chairman
Wyden,
Ron
(D-OR)
Foreign Relations Chairman
Menendez,
Robert
(D-NJ)
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Chairwoman
Murray,
Patty
(D-WA)
Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chairman
Peters,
Gary C.
(D-MI)
Judiciary Chairman
Durbin,
Richard J.
(D-IL)
Rules and Administration Chairwoman
Klobuchar,
Amy
(D-MN)
Small Business and Entrepreneurship Chairman
Cardin,
Benjamin L.
(D-MD)
Veterans' Affairs Chairman
Tester,
Jon
(D-MT)
Special, Select, and Other Committees
Joint Committees
Senate-Elected Officers & Officials
About Senate-Elected Officers and Officials
For an overview of all Senate leaders, see President of the Senate. Speaker of the Senate is a title given to the presiding officer of the Senate in a small number of jurisdictions and mainly amongst English-speaking countries.
- The Speaker of the Senate of Canada presides over the Senate of Canada.
- Kenya's Senate is also presided over by a Speaker.
- The U.S. Senate has no speaker.
- The U.S. state of Tennessee has a Speaker of the Senate who presides over the upper house of the State Legislature. The Speaker of the Senate also serves as the Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee due to the Speaker of the Senate being the first in line of succession to the Governor under the Tennessee Constitution.
- The U.S. state of Kentucky formerly had a Speaker of the Senate under a prior constitution; the office was briefly of significant importance during the Civil War due to the death of Linn Boyd who was then Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky.
- The U.S. state of Illinois also had a Speaker of the Senate under its first two constitutions; it now has a President of the Senate. Speaker William Lee D. Ewing briefly served as Governor of Illinois in 1834 when the positions of governor and lieutenant governor both became vacant.
- The Speaker of the Senate of Northern Ireland is now a defunct office.
- In the Republic of Ireland, the Cathaoirleach is the speaker of the Seanad Éireann.
- Speaker of the Franklin Senate; the bicameral legislative branch of the defunct "Lost State of Franklin" had a Speaker of the Senate (with legislative powers similar to a President of the Senate) who also acted in the capacity of the executive branch's second-in-command, or "Deputy", to the "President/Governor."
- Chairman of the Senate (Pakistan)
- Marshal of the Senate (Poland)
This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Speaker of the senate.
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