Fresh off of winning a seat in the Ontario Legislature, Chatham-Kent-Leamington MPP Rick Nicholls has his sights set on a new seat.
He's running to become the 42nd Speaker of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
"When you get into debate, that's where it gets really interesting," says Nicholls. "You're dealing with strong personalities at times and sometimes questions and or comments made can be highly emotional."
When it comes to resolving conflict in the House, Nicholls says he believes his past experience as a referee and an official in various sports will help him out a lot.
"When you're officiating, you have to maintain that non-partisan role," says Nicholls. "I'm taking that understanding of the game -- and understanding the 'game' of provincial parliament -- and then taking my experience as an official in the sporting world and thinking what does it take to become a good official... in my role as the Speaker."
Nicholls says one of the questions he is often being asked right now, is whether the Speaker is able to represent the concerns of their constituents because they are supposed to be a neutral voice in the House.
"The answer to that is most definitely," says Nicholls. "Even though I can't debate in the legislature, if there are some major issues that come up within our riding where I can best represent my constituents, I have direct access to the [provincial] ministers."
MPPs will vote in a new speaker on July 11.
