December 20, 2001

Milliken turning Kingston into G-8 Speakers' Corner

Peter Milliken is bringing a group of the most powerful politicians in the world to Kingston.

The Kingston and the Islands MP, who also serves as Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons, will host the 2002 G-8 Speaker's Conference in the city next fall.

"It will likely be in September," Milliken told The Whig-Standard.

"I think the proposals [discussed by the eight speakers] will be things like security in parliaments, some procedural matters and how we arrive at decisions in our different parliaments ... There will be some one-on-one meetings as well."

WORKING ON DETAILS

Milliken said details surrounding the historic summit in Kingston still have to be worked out among the players and governments.

Besides Milliken, the meeting will bring the speakers of the British House of Commons, Italy's Chamber of Deputies and the French National Assembly, the president of the German Bundestag, the speaker of the Japanese House of Representatives and Republican Dennis Hastert, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Hastert is the third most powerful political leader in the world and also third in line to succeed the president of the United States.

The Speaker's Conference will take place after Prime Minister Jean Chretien hosts British Prime Minister Tony Blair, U.S. President George W. Bush and the leaders of Germany, France, Russia, Germany, the European Union and Italy in Kannanaskis, Alta., for the annual G-8 economic summit.

Shortly after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, Alberta Premier Ralph Klein said the Canadian government should consider puting off the G-8 gathering if world tensions remain high.

Bringing the G-8 speakers together is a relatively new idea, Milliken said. The G-8 government leaders began meeting annually in the mid-1970s.

"The [speaker's gathering] started a few years ago [but] we really had the first meeting of the full group in Rome [last year]," Milliken said.

Milliken and his British counterpart, Speaker Michael Martin, will find themselves on the political sidelines through parts of the conference. While the other six speakers are partisan political leaders in their systems, the British parliamentary system requires the speaker to remain above politics.

Speakers in the Westminster tradition also don't have a policymaking role.

"The two of us are neutral," Milliken said.

At the University of Toronto, Prof. John Kirton, director of the school's G-8 Research Group, said he was delighted to hear of Milliken's plan to host the speakers in Kingston.

"I think it's vitally important that parliamentarians become involved in the [G-8] summit process," he said.

"Our parliamentarians are the ones that connect the executive ... to the citizens on the street. Any way of involving them [speakers] in the summit is most welcome ... Anything we can do to connect civil society, through parliamentarians, to the summit is ultimately good."

MAYOR THRILLED

At City Hall on Tuesday, Mayor Isabel Turner was thrilled when told of Milliken's plan.

"I think for Peter to bring them here, he is to be congratulated," she said. "It's another exposure of people to what the city is."

She said Milliken has already brought the representatives of 65 countries - ambassadors, high commissioners and others based in Ottawa - for a dinner and boat cruise earlier this year. It's believed the event marked the first time the annual Speaker's reception for the diplomatic corps in Ottawa has been held outside the nation's capital.

"Peter bringing the ambassadors here ... was wonderful," Turner said. "Bringing the speakers together [in Kingston] is a bit more international."

Kingston Whig Standard article