Sunday, March 24, 2013

Photo dump!

This is probably going to be my final post on this blog.
It has been two and a half weeks since my last day in the Chamber.

I miss the Page Program, so so so much.
I miss everyone I met there.
I miss working in the chamber.
I miss everything.


As all the Pages received a CD full of photos from our experience, I thought it would be fitting to post them here.
Enjoy!

Hon. Dave Levac, Speaker of the House


Our meeting with The Honourable David C. Onley, the Lieutenant Governor

 Before lunch with Deborah Deller, the Clerk of the Legislative Assembly

Outside of the Chamber with the Hon. Dennis Clark, Sergeant-at-Arms

Meeting with the Hon. Kathleen Wynne, the Premier of Ontario

Page Jeopardy with Hon. Trevor Day, Table Clerk and Senior Clerk of Committees 

Meeting with Ashley Csandy, Journalist for the QP Briefing

















Skating at Nathan Phillips Square

















The tour of the attic

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

More and More Meetings

I realize this post is like two weeks late. But it's never to late to talk about the Legislative Assembly, right?

March 5th was a  very eventful day for us as Legislative Pages. 

To start off the day, we had to be at Queen's Park early then normal; While we normally had to be in uniform for morning briefing at 8:15, that morning we needed to be ready to leave the Page Quarters at that time. We rushed upstairs to the second floor, to an office in the east wing. A very special office indeed; the office of Kathleen Wynne, the Premier of Ontario. We were escorted to one of the meeting rooms in her vast office. Ms. Wynne came in promptly, very excited to meet us. We were very privileged to have a meeting with the newly elected Premier. We got to learn all sorts of interesting things about Ms. Wynne. I felt very fortunate to have this chance to meet with her; The experience was very fun and I really enjoyed getting to speak to the Premier.

After our meeting, the day continued like it normally would; we went up to the Chamber for Orders of the Day, and at 10:00 Question Period started.

After Oral Questions, we got into our procession lines. We walked down the main staircase in the Legislative building, but instead of going downstairs to the Page Quarters for lunch we headed towards the South Entrance. Soon we were at the Clerk, Deborah Deller's door.
We went into the Clerk's office and made ourselves comfortable; Clerk Deller arrived shortly afterwards and our meeting with her quickly began. Clerk Deller was a very humourous and friendly person to talk to; I loved the meeting with her and learned a whole lot about how the Legislature operates. The fun meeting ended off with a pizza lunch, and more hilarious stories about the Legislature's past. Clerk Deller has been serving in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario in different positions for many years, and it was quite interesting to have the perspective of a person who's been at Queen's Park for so long.

Thank you very much for making the time to meet with us!

Monday, March 11, 2013

The End

Last Thursday, the SP13-1 Pages and I handed back our uniforms, packed our bags and said our goodbyes.


It was a very emotional day for all of us;
At 11:45, our last Question Period as Legislative Pages ended.
At 1:00, we had our last procession line as a group.
At 2:00, our last Routine Proceedings at Legislative Pages ended.
At around 4:30, the House adjourned and ended our last day as Pages.
An hour and a half later, we left the Page Quarters for the last time.

I can't even express how amazing this experience was for me. I got to experience things, to meet people that hardly any kids my age get to.
I got to walk onto the Legislative Chamber floors.
I got to meet the Speaker, the Clerk, the Premier and the Lieutenant Governor, all in the span of a week.
I got to work in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, while I was still in middle school.

But it's not just the work that I'll miss. Of course I will still miss it. I'll miss how professional and important I felt in my uniform, walking around on the Chamber floor knowing exactly what I need to do. I'm going to miss walking in the Legislative Precinct. I'm so familiar with some of the places at Queen's Park, I felt at home there.

But what I think I miss most of all is the group. The Legislative Pages.
The Parliamentary Protocol and Public Relations Branch, the section of the Legislative Assembly responsible for the Legislative Pages only chooses the best of the best students in Ontario for their program.
When you stick twenty four of the best kids in Ontario in one classroom, you are bound to make some friendships.
I can't describe the relationship I've made with the other Pages. They are from all over Ontario; some from as far as Sault St. Marie and Ottawa. Despite the distances between us, I'm going to be sure to keep in contact with them. They are some of the nicest and funniest people I've known. The private jokes we've made up, the memories we've built together will never leave me.

I'll never forget the SP13-1 Pages.
I'll never forget the Legislative Page Program. 


These are the Perks of being a Legislative Page.



Side note: I will be publishing the post about my meetings with the Premier and the Clerk later this week. I just felt it was more appropriate to talk about the end of my experience before hand.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Second Week Recap

It has been one week since I last posted on this blog. 

Don't get me wrong, working at the Legislative Assembly is really hard and tiring work. On Friday evening I was asleep by 9:30, which is quite early for me.
I decided that as I haven't gotten a chance to update all this week, I will recap my second week in one post.

Time in the chamber this week was really fun. The rest of the Pages and I are getting into the swing of things. In fact, on Thursday we got a 'perfect 10' on our procession lines (the formation in which we travel to and from the chamber and around the building), and were awarded with 'zippies' (those reels of string that keep our building passes at our waists, instead of on a lanyard.). There was alot of excitement in the chamber, between votes and debates, as well as the always-busy question period. Between our long hours in the House, we got to meet several important people from the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
On Tuesday, after question period the Pages posed for a photo with Speaker Levac before heading up to a special lunch with him. The food was delicious; Speaker Levac was funny and charming, cracking jokes that made the entire group laugh. We all had lots of fun that day, learning more about Speaker Levac's past and his job at the Legislature.
The following day, we got to meet yet another person from the Legislature; some might consider him one of them most important. The Honourable David C. Onley, the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario and the Representative of her Majesty the Queen made time out of his busy schedule to meet with the SP13-1 Pages. His Honour was very friendly, and heartwarmingly replied to all of our questions about his career as Queen Elizabeth's representative.
But the introduction to Legislative peoples wasn't over; On Friday afternoon we got to spend a lot of time with Mr. Trevor Day, one of the Table Clerks in the Chamber. We played a game of Page Jeopardy, with buzzers and all! Of the four teams that played, my team came in third with 100 points. At the end of the day, we were all happy; Mr. Day proved to be an amazing game show host and a great person to speak with. We didn't get much of a chance to speak about Mr. Day's job in the Legislature, but our time with him was well spent.
This week was also special for another reason; as this group of Pages is serving for three weeks, we got to go on a trip outside of the Legislative Precinct this week! By mutual consent, we chose to walk down to Nathan Phillips Square, in front of City Hall to go skating in the outdoor rink there. Many of the Pages are very skilled skaters, between hockey players and figure skaters. I loved the experience, bonding with all these kids that are so similar, yet so different to me. I love hanging out with all the Pages everyday, and I really hope that we manage to keep in touch after the program ends.

Overall, I had quite a busy and fun-filled week. I am hoping to be able to update more frequently next week. I will have plenty to write about, too! Next week we will be having lunch with Clerk Deller, the 'Head' Clerk in the Chamber, as well as a meeting with Ms. Wynne, the new Premier of Ontario.

I can't believe it's gonna be my last week at the Legislature; I am having the time of my life and as much as I miss my school friends, don't really want it to end.