OTTAWA — It may be the best job in Canadian politics.

On Thursday, eight members of the new, 41st Parliament of Canada will be vying for the job of Commons Speaker.

The winner has large shoes to fill — Peter Milliken, the last Speaker, held the job for 10 years, through four Parliaments (majority and minorities) and three prime ministers.

Though viewers of question period would probably view the Speaker’s task as more akin to daycare, or a referee, the position actually comes with huge responsibilities — and impressive perks.

First, the responsibilities:

The Speaker is in charge of the entire administration of the House of Commons, its staff and offices and the parliamentary grounds or “precinct” as it’s called. That includes oversight of budgets, security and protocol.

The Speaker is in charge of all debate and discussion within the Commons, and must issue rulings in cases of disputes. So the Speaker has to stay out of the political fray. As it says on the Speaker’s website: “To preserve the trust of the House, the Speaker’s actions must be impartial. Consequently, the Speaker never participates in debate, only votes in case of a tie and works to balance the right of the Government to transact business in an orderly manner and the right of all members to be heard in debate.”

In exchange for those responsibilities, here’s what the Speaker gets:

An annual salary of $233,847 — that’s $75,000 more than the average MP makes.

A country estate, known as The Farm, sitting on 1.74 hectares of rural splendour in the Gatineau Hills. It’s Mackenzie King’s former home of Kingsmere, and has been the official residence for the Speaker since 1955. It comes with a housekeeper, gardeners and other staff, and is the site of a huge, annual party for denizens of Parliament Hill.

A private apartment within Centre Block, just behind the House of Commons, and two private dining rooms, one of which is large enough to manage a sit-down dinner for roughly 50 people.

An office budget of $1,062,801, which includes hospitality expenses of $170,048.

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Lots of foreign travel, visiting other parliaments and counterparts abroad, as well as hosting duties at home for all kinds of dignitaries and celebrities who visit Canada.

And if all this isn’t enough, consider this: whoever is named Speaker doesn’t have to bother with vexing wardrobe questions either. The black Speaker’s robe (several of them, in fact) is a perk as well.