Peter Milliken
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The Honourable Peter Andrew Stewart Milliken, MP (born November 12, 1946) is Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, a position he has held since 2001.
He was elected to the House of Commons in 1988 defeating well-known Conservative cabinet minister Flora MacDonald. Milliken represents the riding of Kingston and the Islands.
Having been an avid student of parliamentary procedure since his teens, Milliken was named assistant House Leader for the opposition Liberals, a rarity for a freshman member as new members are not normally familiar enough with the sometimes archaic practices of parliament.
Following the 1993 election he was named for a two-year term as parliamentary secretary to the House Leader of the new Liberal Government. He and fellow Liberal MP John Godfrey introduced the Godfrey-Milliken Bill in 1996 in response to the U. S. Helms-Burton Act.
Milliken was re-elected for a third term in Canadian federal election, 1997 and was named Deputy Speaker of the House. In 2001, at the first sitting of parliament following the 2000 election, Milliken was elected Speaker by his peers.
He was widely praised by government and opposition parties for his rulings which were considered very fair. He also brought new life to the chair in delivering his rulings and remarks with a sarcastic humour.
Elected for his fifth term as MP in 2004 he was the unanimous choice of his colleagues to be re-elected Speaker.
In 2005, he delayed a federal election by breaking a tie in the vote on the second reading of Bill C-48, an amendment to the Canadian federal budget, 2005, which was a confidence motion. The vote was 152 in favour and 152 against before his vote; he voted in favour of the bill. The Speaker does not vote except in the case of a tie, but must in such a way as to keep the matter open for further consideration if possible (ie. passing C-48 to allow further debate for a third reading). This is the first time that a Speaker has used his tie-breaker vote on a confidence motion.
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| Preceded by: Gilbert Parent 1994-2001 | Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons since 2001 | incumbent |