The Canadian Scene
New Nova Scotia Speaker
Danielle Barkhouse (MLA for Chester- St. Margaret’s) was elected Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia on September 5, 2024 over Lisa Lachance (Halifax Citadel-Sable Island) and Rafah DiCostanzo (Clayton Park West).
Speaker Barkhouse had served as Deputy Speaker since November 3, 2022.
Upon taking the chair, Speaker Barkhouse said: “Honourable members of the House of Assembly, I do thank the House for the great honour it has bestowed upon me. I will do my best to uphold the prestige and high tradition of the Speaker’s Office. I respectfully ask the assistance and co-operation of all honourable members.”
She added: “I am proud to be the second female Speaker and to walk in the footprints of Karla MacFarlane.”
Prior to her fist election to the Assembly as a Progressive Conservative in 2021, Speaker Barkhouse worked in the nursing field for 17 years. She also served two terms as a municipal councillor for Chester.
Speaker Barkhouse studiedbusinesscommunications at St. Mary’s University and governance at Dalhousie University.
New Speaker in New Brunswick
Francine Landry (Madawaska Les Lacs- Edmundston) was acclaimed as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick on November 19, 2024. She becomes the first francophone woman to serve as Speaker.
Born in St. Hilaire, she holds a bachelor’s degree in administration from the Université de Moncton, Edmundston campus, a certificate in economic development from the Université du Québec à Montréal, and a diploma in business technology from the Collège communautaire du Nouveau-Brunswick, Edmundston campus.
Before joining the Assembly in 2014 as a Liberal MLA, Speaker Landry worked in economic development, tourism, and culture fields, and was notably responsible for the economic component of the 2014 Congrès mondial acadien.
Prior to being elected Speaker, she served in a variety of cabinet and critic portfolios, including Minister of Post-Secondary Education, Training and Labour, Minister responsible for La Francophonie, Minister of Economic Development and Minister responsible for Opportunities NB, Minister responsible for the Northern Fund and regional minister for northern New Brunswick, Transportation and Infrastructure Critic, Environment and Climate Change Critic, Critic for Education and Early Childhood Development, and Official Opposition Whip.
Ms. Landry lives in St. Jacques with her partner. She has a son and two grandchildren.
New Saskatchewan Speaker
MLA Todd Goudy (Melfort) was acclaimed as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan on November 25, 2024, replacing former Speaker Randy Weekes.
Raised in Melfort, Speaker Goudy spent his youth learning about agricultural innovation by supporting his family farming business. First watching his father develop a solution to Saskatchewan’s wild oat problem, as a teenager he began to participate in research trials by putting out test plots when zero-till agriculture wasn’t yet practiced across the prairies.
A Baptist minister, Speaker Goudy moved to Albania in the early 1990s to work with people to rebuild democracy, commerce and faith communities following the demise of the communist government. Upon returning to Saskatchewan he owned furniture manufacturing company and served for 10 years on the school board of the Northeast School Division.
Elected to the Assembly as a member of the Saskatchewan Party in 2018, Speaker Goudy served as secretary to multiple cabinet ministers and the premier, and had been recently appointed Government Whip.
Speaking to reporters following his first week in the chair, Speaker Goudy noted: “I wasn’t really a guy who thought I would ever see myself in this position, and yet I really enjoyed it. Without having such great staff and the leaders of the different parties in the (Legislature), it would have been a lot more difficult.”
Speaker Goudy is married with six children.