Noël Kinsella

The Honourable Noël Kinsella PC
Speaker of the Senate
In office February 8, 2006 – November 26, 2014
Nominated by	Stephen Harper
Preceded by	Daniel Hays
Succeeded by	Pierre Claude Nolin
Senator from New Brunswick (Fredericton-York-Sunbury)
In office September 12, 1990 – November 26, 2014
Appointed by	Brian Mulroney
Personal details
Born	Noël Augustus Kinsella November 28, 1939 Saint John, New Brunswick
Political party	Conservative
Spouse(s)	Ann Conley Kinsella
Profession	Professor, senior public servant
Religion	Roman Catholic

Noël Augustus Kinsella, PC (born November 28, 1939) is a Canadian politician and was Speaker of the Canadian Senate from 2006 to 2014.

Education

Kinsella was born in Saint John, New Brunswick. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in psychology from University College in Dublin, Ireland. He is also an alumnus of the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas Angelicum in Rome from which he earned a Ph.L. and then a Ph.D. in 1965 with a dissertation entitled Toward a theory of personality development : a study of the works of Erik H. Erikson. Furthermore, he received an S.T.L. and an S.T.D. degree from the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He was a Professor for 41 years at St. Thomas University and is currently a member of the Board of Governors. He also served as Chair of the Atlantic Human Rights Centre.

Career

Kinsella was appointed to the Canadian Senate on the recommendation of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney on September 12, 1990, as a Senator for New Brunswick. He sat as a member of the Progressive Conservative Party caucus until 2004 when he joined most of the Tory caucus in becoming a Conservative Senator.

Kinsella was Opposition Whip (1994–1999) and Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate (1999 – October 1, 2004) when he became Leader of the Opposition in the Senate. On February 8, 2006, he was named Speaker of the Senate by the Governor General on the advice of Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Kinsella speaks French, and uses it in parliament. He resigned as Speaker on November 26, 2014, in anticipation of his mandatory retirement from the Senate, upon reaching the age of 75, two days later.^[1]

Kinsella is considered a Red Tory and supported Peter MacKay in his bid to become leader of the Progressive Conservative Party in 2003.

Honours and awards

Kinsella is an honorary Captain of the Royal Canadian Navy since December 2008.^[2]

He is also a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta^[3]

He was sworn in as a Member of the Queen's Privy Council for Canada on February 23, 2015. This gives him the right to the Honorific Prefix "The Honourable" and the Post Nominal Letters "PC" for Life.

He was made a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Ribbon	Description	Notes
	Order of St. John (K.stJ)	2010 Knight of Justice
	Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal	1977 Canadian Version of this Medal
	125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal	1992
	Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal	2002 Canadian Version of this Medal
	Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal	2012 Canadian Version of this Medal

References

1. http://ottawacitizen.com/news/politics/quebec-conservative-readies-to-take-over-as-senate-speaker
2. Blakeley, Darlene. Canadian Navy: A senator joins the ranks. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
3. Quail, Peter. Epistula Vol. 9 No. 2: November 2011

External links

• Noël Kinsella – Parliament of Canada biography
• The Honourable Noël A. Kinsella, The Speaker of the Senate, Biography