Selecting a Speaker of the House: The race is on

Four members of the new House of Commons have put their name forward to become the next Speaker of the House.

Liberals Yasmin Ratansi, Geoff Regan and Denis Paradis are all opting in, as is Conservative MP Bruce Stanton.

Any MP who was not currently serving as a minister had until 6 p.m. on Wednesday night to withdraw their name from the race.

The first order of business for the 338 members of the House of Commons on Thursday will be electing a Speaker from the list of interested candidates. In the past, this process has typically taken a whole day, sometimes stretching into the night.

VIDEO: MPs are back in Ottawa, preparing to get back to business when the House of Commons reopens Thursday

MPs traditionally voted only for their preferred candidate, and then the ballots were counted. If nobody won a majority, a new vote was held and ballots re-counted until someone emerged victorious.

But that’s about to change.

Here’s a rundown of how the Speaker of Canada’s 42nd Parliament will be chosen.

First, why is this position important?

The Speaker’s job isn’t easy. His or her main role is to try and maintain some semblance of decorum and order in the House of Commons, which can be challenging on a good day. It is also the Speaker’s duty to act as a liaison with the Senate and the Crown. He or she is supposed to remain impartial, and so never participates in debate and only votes in case of a tie.

There are also perks to this job, of course. The Speaker is paid a salary of about $230,000 and is given the use of an official residence in Ottawa, known as The Farm.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: There are also perks to this job, of course. The Speaker is paid a salary of about $230,000 and is given the use of an official residence in Ottawa, known as <a href="http://www.ncc-ccn.gc.ca/places-to-visit/official-residences/farm">The Farm.</a>

History buffs can read more about past Speakers here.

How will MPs vote?

Thursday will mark the first time MPs will vote using a preferential ballot. In other words, they’ll vote just once, ranking all of the candidates on the ballot in order of preference. After that, five staffers employed in the service of the House of Commons, who are sworn never to reveal what they see during the counting process, will tally up the votes. Spoiled ballots and ballots that don’t make the intention of the voter clear enough will be tossed out.

If nobody emerges with a majority (at least half the votes) in the first count, the votes attributed to the candidate with the least support will be redistributed based on the second choice on those ballots. This process will continue until someone has a majority.

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: If nobody emerges with a majority (at least half the votes) in the first count, the votes attributed to the candidate with the least support will be redistributed based on the second choice on those ballots. This process will continue until someone has a majority.

Nobody in the House of Commons – including the media and the MPs – will know anything until a staffer emerges and announces the winner. Nobody except the counters will ever know who came second, third, etc.

What if there’s a tie?

If two candidates end up with the exact same number of votes during the count, the MPs will need to vote again, filling out a new ranked ballot that includes only the candidates still standing.