Ottawa, Ontario (November, 2011)   

AMBASSADOR MEETS NEW SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS

The Speaker of the House of Commons is the Member of Parliament responsible for keeping order in Chamber proceedings and also to protect the rights and privileges of the House.

On October 5th, Ambassador Bahah met with Canada’s newly appointed Speaker, The Honourable Andrew Scheer, MP for Regina, Saskatchewan. He is the 35th Speaker of the House and is also, at 32 years of age, the youngest person to hold this role in Canadian history. However, he is certainly not a new-comer to politics and found himself working for the Leader of the Opposition while studying history and politics in his hometown at Ottawa University. His political acumen was further sharpened after graduation when he joined the constituency office of Canadian Alliance MP Larry Spencer in Regina, leading to his own election to Parliament in 2004.

During their meeting together, Ambassador Bahah had the opportunity to discuss the very important business relationship that exists between Yemen and Canada and the future opportunities for liaison and exchange between both Houses of Parliament. They spoke of the increasing number of Yemeni students who are among the growing numbers of international students seeking the excellence of a Canadian education, and the profoundly positive effect that this will have on the future of their countries. In addition together they touched upon the tremendous developments and the variety of challenges facing the region and specifically, those specific to Yemen.

Ambassador Bahah and the Speaker had an extremely enjoyable and worthwhile meeting and look forward to a productive association and collaboration in the future.