Peter Milliken: Speaking for Kingston

Introducing the Liberal Party candidate for Kingston and the Islands

Incumbent Member of Parliament Peter Milliken says if elected
Incumbent Member of Parliament Peter Milliken says if elected

Member of Parliament for Kingston and the Islands for almost 20 years, the Honourable Peter Milliken is hoping to come back for a seventh consecutive term.

“I’ve enjoyed being the MP. … I like the work. I enjoy dealing with my colleagues in Parliament and my constituents in Kingston.”

An alumnus of Queen’s, Oxford and Dalhousie, Milliken worked as a lawyer in Kingston before he was elected in 1988. He was elected Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons in 1997 and has been Speaker of the House since 2001.

As Speaker of the House, Milliken interprets the rules of Parliament and maintains order and freedom of speech. Because the Speaker must be impartial, he doesn’t engage in debates and only votes in the case of a tie. As part of his duties as Speaker, Milliken is Chair of the Board of Internal Economy. The governing body of the House of Commons, the Board of Internal Economy oversees the official budget for the House of Commons.

“Experience obviously has been a big thing; obviously my connections with all the parties in the House are very useful for getting things done.” Milliken said. “The fact that I’m the Speaker obviously helps in those dealings.”

Milliken has worked on numerous projects with Queen’s over the years, such as Queen’s Model Parliament and guest lectures in the Department of Political Studies. He said he wants to continue collaborating with the University.

“Locally, I’ve worked constantly with Queen’s, with the AMS, with Queen’s Model Parliament. It’s one of the fun parts of my job.”

Milliken said drastic change, in the form of the Liberal GreenShift, is needed in order to prevent further climate change and environmental degradation.

He said the Liberals would change how companies are taxed in order to encourage polluters to reduce their carbon emissions.

“It’s worked in a number of other countries,” he said.

In order to reduce carbon emissions, Milliken said, alternate energy sources must be adopted. He cited wind power, commonly used in Europe, as one option.

“We’re looking at the experience of other countries in this area. … Why is Denmark a leader in this area and not Canada?”

He said if elected, the Liberals would bring in tax incentives to encourage Canadians to move away from traditional energy sources, such as nuclear energy.

In light of the looming economic downturn, Milliken said the Liberals would take an active role in steering the Canadian economy away from a recession.

“Their plan is to try to strengthen the role of government in dealing with the crisis. … Keep the economy as stimulated as we can.”

To read Peter Milliken’s full platform, go to petermilliken.com. To see the full Liberal Party platform, please see liberal.ca

All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s)-in-Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be contacted, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to journal_editors@ams.queensu.ca.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Skip to content