- Joint address (Canada)
A joint address is a special procedure of the Canadian Parliament, in which the House of Commons and the Senate sit jointly in the House of Commons chambers.
In a joint address, the House of Commons becomes a grand hall, accommodating both Members of the House and the Senate, and guests invited for the occasion. The Speaker of the House of Commons takes the Speaker's chair, with the Speaker of the Senate seated in a chair to his or her right.
Members of the House take their usual seats, while Senators and Justices of the Supreme Court are seated on the floor of the House in front of the clerk's table. Gallery privileges are suspended during a joint address, and access to the galleries is strictly limited to invited guests.
The process is used most commonly when a visiting dignitary, such as a foreign
head of state orhead of government is addressing the Canadian parliament.However, on rarer occasions the process may also be used to make a formal and binding request of the Canadian monarch. For example, this was the process used to amend the
Constitution of Canada prior topatriation , and was discussed (although not ultimately pursued) as a means of patriation itself. In extreme circumstances, the process may also be used to remove a person previously appointed by the government, such as ajudge or anambassador , from their position if other avenues of doing so have failed.The first dignitary to address Parliament was King George VI in 1939. The last person to do so was Victor Yushchenko, President of Ukraine on May 26, 2008. [ [http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/compilations/parliament/HeadsOfStatesAddress.aspx?Language=E Parliament of Canada] - Heads of States and of Governments who have addressed Joint Sessions of the Senate and House of Commons of Canada]
The following have addressed a joint session of the House of Commons and the Senate:
*
May 26 ,2008 -Victor Yushchenko ,President of Ukraine
*September 22 ,2006 -Hamid Karzai ,President of Afghanistan
*May 18 ,2006 -John Howard ,Prime Minister of Australia
*October 25 ,2004 -Vincente Fox ,President of Mexico
*March 9 ,2004 -Kofi Annan ,Secretary General of the United Nations
*February 22 ,2001 -Tony Blair ,Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland
*April 29 ,1999 -Václav Havel ,President of the Czech Republic
*September 24 ,1998 -Nelson Mandela ,President of South Africa
*June 11 ,1996 -Ernesto Zedillo , President of Mexico
*February 23 ,1995 -Bill Clinton ,President of the United States of America
*June 19 ,1992 -Boris Yeltsin ,President of Russia
*April 8 ,1991 -Carlos Salinas de Gortari , President of Mexico
*June 18 ,1990 -Nelson Mandela , Deputy President of theAfrican National Congress
*October 11 ,1989 -King Hussein of Jordan , King of the Hasemite Kingdom ofJordan
*June 27 ,1989 -Chaim Herzog ,President of the State of Israel
*June 22 ,1988 -Margaret Thatcher , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
*June 16 , 1988 -Dr. Helmut Kohl ,Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
*May 10 , 1988 - Queen Beatrix, Queen of the Netherlands
*May 25 ,1987 -François Mitterrand ,President of the French Republic
*April 6 ,1987 -Ronald Reagan , President of the United States of America
*January 13 ,1986 -Yasuhiro Nakasone ,Prime Minister of Japan
*March 7 ,1985 -Javier Perez de Cuellar , Secretary General of the United Nations
*May 8 ,1984 -Miguel de la Madrid , President of Mexico
*January 17 , 1984 -Zhao Ziyang ,Premier of the People's Republic of China
*September 26 ,1983 -Margaret Thatcher , Prime Minister of Great Britain
*March 11 ,1981 -Ronald Reagan , President of the United States of America
*May 26 ,1980 -Jose Lopez Portillo , President of Mexico
*May 5 , 1980 -Masayoshi Ohira ,Prime Minister of Japan
*October 18 ,1977 -Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
*June 19 ,1973 -Indira Gandhi ,Prime Minister of India
*March 30 ,1973 -Luis Echeverria , President of Mexico
*April 14 ,1972 -Richard Nixon , President of the United States of America
*July 1 ,1967 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom
*May 26 ,1964 -U. Thant , Secretary General of the United Nations
*May 17 ,1961 -John F. Kennedy , President of the United States of America
*July 21 ,1958 -Kwame Nkrumah ,Prime Minister of Ghana
*July 9 , 1958 -Dwight D. Eisenhower , President of the United States of America
*June 13 , 1958 -Harold Macmillan , Prime Minister of the United Kingdom
*June 2 , 1958 -Theodor Heuss ,President of the Federal Republic of Germany
*October 14 ,1957 - Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (Speech from the Throne )
*March 4 ,1957 -Guy Mollet ,Premier of France
*June 5 ,1956 -Sukarno ,President of Indonesia
*March 5 , 1956 -Giovanni Gronchi ,President of Italy
*February 6 , 1956 -Sir Anthony Eden , Prime Minister of Great Britain
*November 14 ,1953 -Dwight D. Eisenhower , President of the United States of America
*April 5 ,1951 -Vincent Auriol , President of France
*May 31 ,1950 -Liaquat Ali Khan ,Prime Minister of Pakistan
*October 24 ,1949 -Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru ,Prime Minister of India
*June 11 ,1947 -Harry S. Truman , President of the United States of America
*November 19 ,1945 -Clement Attlee , Prime Minister of Great Britain
*June 30 ,1944 -Peter Fraser ,Prime Minister of New Zealand
*June 1 , 1944 -John Curtin ,Prime Minister of Australia
*June 16 ,1943 -Chiang Kai-Shek , wife of Leader of Republic of China
*June 3 ,1943 -Eduard Benes ,President of Czechoslovakia
*December 30 ,1941 -Winston Churchill , Prime Minister of Great Britain
*May 19 ,1939 -George VI of the United Kingdom References
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