Peter Milliken

Peter Milliken, a lawyer, was Speaker of the House of Commons from 2001 to 2011. He was the longest-serving Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons. Before he was elected Speaker, he served as Deputy Speaker of the House and Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader, so brought to the position an extensive knowledge of the rules of parliament and respect for its traditions. A quiet and calm man, Peter Milliken has been interested in parliament since his school days, and his photographic memory gave him a command of the complexities of often archaic parliamentary rules.

2001 to 2011

November 12, 1946, in Kingston, Ontario

• Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario

• Oxford University, Oxford, England

• Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Lawyer

Liberal Party of Canada

Kingston and the Islands

• Peter Milliken was first elected to the House of Commons in 1988.

• With the Liberals in opposition, Peter Milliken was the Liberal Party critic for election reform.

• When the Liberals came to power in 1993, Peter Milliken was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader.

• Peter Milliken was appointed Deputy Chairman of Committees of the Whole House in 1996.

• In 2001 Peter Milliken was elected Speaker of the House of Commons.

• With a new Parliament and a minority Liberal government in October 2004, Peter Milliken was acclaimed Speaker of the House of Commons, after all other candidates withdrew their names from the ballot.

• In 2006, after the election of a Conservative minority government, Peter Milliken was re-elected Speaker of the House of Commons.

• In 2008 Peter Milliken once more ran for Speaker of the House of Commons. There were seven other MPs competing against him this time, primarily because of dissatisfaction with the growing incivility in the House of Commons. Peter Milliken was re-elected on the fifth ballot.

• Peter Milliken retired from politics in 2011.

• Andrew Scheer became the next Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada.