Nicholas Milliken is a Canadian politician who was elected in the

2019 Alberta general election The 2019 Alberta general election was held on April 16, 2019, to elect 87 members to the 30th Alberta Legislature. In its first general election contest, the Jason Kenney-led United Conservative Party (UCP) won 54.88% of the popular vote and 63 ...

to represent the

electoral district An electoral district, also known as an election district, legislative district, voting district, constituency, riding, ward, division, or (election) precinct is a subdivision of a larger state (a country, administrative region, or other polity ...

Calgary-Currie Calgary-Currie is a provincial electoral district in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It was created in 1971 and is mandated to return a single member to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta using the first past the post method of voting. The distric ...

in the

30th Alberta Legislature The 30th Alberta Legislative Assembly was constituted after the general election on April 16, 2019. The United Conservative Party (UCP), led by Jason Kenney, won a majority of seats and formed the government. The New Democrats, led by outgoing Pr ...

. Milliken defeated incumbent

Brian Malkinson Brian Lawrence Malkinson (born 1985) is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Alberta general election to the Legislative Assembly of Alberta representing the electoral district of Calgary-Currie. In 2018, he accepted the position ...

by a margin of less than 1% (191 votes). Milliken was elected Deputy Chair of Committees in the

Alberta Legislature The Legislature of Alberta is the unicameral legislature of the province of Alberta, Canada. The legislature is made of two elements: the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta,. and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta. The legislature has existed sinc ...

on May 21, 2019. In July 2020 Milliken came under fire for, while sitting as Speaker, ejecting NDP member Marie Renaud out of the chamber during debate. Renaud noted that UCP members were bullying her while she was standing to speak to a bill. When Renaud refused to apologize for her comments, she was ejected. Milliken's impartiality was called into question since he focused the conflict on Renaud while failing to address the UCP members' behaviour. On June 21, 2022, Premier

Jason Kenney Jason Thomas Kenney (born May 30, 1968) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 18th premier of Alberta from 2019 until 2022 and the leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) from 2017 until 2022. He also served as the member of ...

appointed Milliken as Alberta's Minister of Infrastructure. He was later appointed to Premier

Danielle Smith Marlaina Danielle Smith (born April 1, 1971) is a Canadian politician and journalist who has been serving as the 19th premier of Alberta since October 11, 2022, and leader of the United Conservative Party (UCP) since October 6, 2022. Smith ent ...

's first cabinet as Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, the first to lead a full Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction. Prior to Milliken's appointment, this position was held by Associate Ministers.

In the Media

On Sunday January 8, 2023 Milliken posted a tweet from a British tabloid paper that was widely considered to be problematic and reflected a "bias against these individuals and a complete misunderstanding around the nature of addiction and homelessness". He took it down but when challenged on it reposted it with the headline highlighted before taking it down a second time. In a CTV article Lorian Hardcastle, a University of Calgary associate law professor specializing in health policy, characterized the tweet by the minister's account as "highly problematic," suggesting a potential misunderstanding of addiction and homelessness.

References

United Conservative Party MLAs Living people 21st-century Canadian politicians Politicians from Calgary Year of birth missing (living people) {{Alberta-politician-stub