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Milliken at the head of the Speaker's Parade in the Hall of Honour on Parliament Hill in Ottawa in March. While Milliken can be affable and amiable with a good sense of humour, O'Brien says he can also be a shy, unas- suming, and somewhat private person. "He has the same demeanour whether he is dealing with the chairman of the Russian Duma, [former U.S. Speaker] Nancy Pelosi, or the security guy at the desk when you come into the House of Commons." Franks sees parallels with Milliken's approach to whitewater canoeing. "Peter, for what it's worth, shows the same qualities in his whitewater canoe- ing as he does in his speakership: abil- ity to read what's ahead, to tame the unruly waters, to be decisive in times of urgency, and a great deal of confidence, experience, and knowledge to bring to bear on whatever might await around the next bend in the river." Probably the chief criticism of Milliken has been the way the atmo- sphere in the House of Commons has deteriorated into partisan gamesman- ship in recent years, with heckling and insults sometimes all but drowning out those trying to speak. The principal problem, says Milliken, is the power wielded by parties and party leaders who decide who will be allowed to speak. "When I first watched it, the speaker chose who the person to ask questions was going to be. Now, the parties provide lists and the speaker follows the lists assiduously." Keeping order in a minority govern- ment is even harder, says Milliken. "A minority Parliament is likely to be that way because everybody is trying to score at the expense of everyone else. So, the fact that we have had a string of minorities I'm sure has altered things a little in that respect." Ironically, it was the existence of a minority government that gave birth to one of Milliken's most lasting legacies — his rulings on the right of Parliament to demand information or documents from the government. In his April 2010 decision on to Parliament's obtain right related to the handling of Afghan documents detainees, Milliken ruled the gov- ernment's refusal to pro- vide uncensored docu- ments constituted a prima facie breach of privilege but gave Parliament two weeks to resolve the impasse between Parliament's right to know and the government's concerns over security. The result was a panel of MPs from different parties to go Milliken made his farewell speech in the Commons on March 25, 2011. w w w . CANADIAN Lawyermag.com JULY 2011 31 31 www.CANADIAN Lawyermag.com JULY 2011 ReuteRs/chRis wattie