Kingston and the Islands MP Peter Milliken’s record-breaking career as Speaker of the House of Commons got underway 25-years-ago today. His fellow MPs elected him their Speaker and he would go on to hold the post for a decade, making him the longest-serving Speaker in Canadian history.
Milliken, who was first sent to the House by Kingston voters in 1988, had dreamed of being Speaker since his high school days when he started subscribing to Hansard. He later refined his skills and knowledge of Parliamentary procedure while studying under Professor C.E.S. (Ned) Franks at Queen’s University, graduating in 1968.
For me, and ever since my days as a reporter at the Kingston Whig-Standard, Peter has been a great friend and support of my work in the field of political history. I owe him a great deal and it is therefore a great personal and professional pleasure to send out silver anniversary greetings to him on this significant date in his career.
Arthur Milnes is an accomplished public historian and award-winning journalist. He was research assistant on The Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney’s best-selling Memoirs and also served as a speechwriter to then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper and as a Fellow of the Queen’s Centre for the Study of Democracy under the leadership of Tom Axworthy. A resident of Kingston, Ontario, Milnes serves as the in-house historian at the 175 year-old Frontenac Club Hotel.