Speaker's Chair

This chair is a reproduction of the first Speaker's chair used in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The office of the Speaker is linked directly with the Speaker's chair which symbolizes the long history and varied duties of the position.  The Legislative Assembly does not sit unless the Speaker or deputy Speaker is in the chair, and any disrespect shown to the occupant of this chair is viewed as disrespect of the Assembly and Parliamentary traditions in general.

In Alberta there is no particular style for Speaker's chairs, and over the years several have been used in the Assembly.  The chair used in the Legislature of the North-West Territories was large and throne-like.  When Alberta became a province and elected its first Legislature, a new chair was purchased.  Reproduced here, it resembled an elaborate office chair.  The first Speaker, Hon. Charles W. Fisher, MLA for Banff, occupied this chair, and it remained in the House until it was replaced in 1911.  The present chair dates from 1936, when Nathan Eldon Tanner, MLA for Cardston, became Speaker.