Legislative Page Program

Page Maja

       "ORDER!" 

First, I would like to start by saying that although my most common explanation of the program I was doing was "I deliver water, papers and messages to MPP's" or " I work as a butler at the Parliament”, I have come to the realization that the Legislative Page Program is much more than that! And: no, I did not go to the Parliament in Ottawa.  Along with 22 other grade 8 students I was chosen to serve for four weeks as a Page in our Provincial Parliament, Queen's Park.

The Pages have been an incredibly important part of Ontario's Parliament since the confederation. These early Pages were 10 to 14 years-old boys from poor families who, for salary, carried messages, ran errands, and fetched glasses of water for Members of Provincial Parliament. Since 1952 a teacher was hired to work with the Pages, and in 1971 first girls were appointed to serve. In the same year Speaker Fred Cass moved the Pages to Page Quarters: an office that included a miniature schoolroom, recreational area, lounge, and kitchen. He also established the practice of choosing Pages from across Ontario, and began the tradition of reading the Pages’ names into Hansard (traditional name of the records of the Parliamentary Debates), which created an official record of their service.

Nowadays serving in the Parliament is a privilege.  Each year, approximately 140 grade 7 and 8 students from across Ontario are selected to participate in the Legislative Page Program. When applying, you are required to have a minimum level 4 average, to write a 750 word essay on what you have done to deserve to serve as a Page, and have a recommendation letter from your Principal.

The best Page group ever:
FA14-2 NOV17-DEC11

 Legislative Pages experience the provincial legislature in action, meet key parliamentary and political figures, and learn first-hand about Ontario’s Parliament and legislative process.  My typical day during last month looked like this:

Each day, I would wake up at 5:30am get ready and take the subway down to Queen's Park at around 6:45am with another girl, Page Kelsey from Ottawa. We would get to the Parliament and our quarters through the tunnel between the subway station and the Queens Park around 7:30am. We would get into our uniforms which consisted of a white stiff-collared dress-shirt, a black vest and blazer, black pants, black socks, a black silver buckled belt, black jabots for girls and black ties for boys and finally, black dress shoes. At 8:15, we would have morning briefing. Basically in briefings we would discuss our schedule, check uniforms and ask any questions that we might have. After that we would go up to the Chamber, for our Chamber Duties.  

Page Captains with the
Sergeant-At-Arms and the Mace 

 The Procession on the last day before the House went on break

Most of the times at 9:00am "ORDER!" is called and the Sergeant-At-Arms with the Mace, the Speaker, the Clerks and the Page Captains enter the Chamber. The Speaker then reads a non-denominational prayer. This is followed by Orders Of The Day when laws and other government activities are discussed. At this time, half of the Pages go to Legislative Process class, while the other half stays in the Chamber. When Question Period is called, Members may ask other Members about any recent activity in their ridings and Ministries. Although this all sounds very complicated, once you get a hang of it, it is very entertaining to watch. The thing that worried me the most was how will I remember all the 107 Members, but after only a few days I new them all including the ridings they are representing. I also learned about all the Ministers and the Ministries they are responsible for.

Our classroom in the Page Quarters

Our Rec room

After lunch, we have our Afternoon Briefing, followed again by Chamber Duties. Then, Routine Proceedings - at this time, most drafts of laws are presented. Next, Orders Of The Day is called again. Half of the group goes to math class until 4:30 (first dismissal), while the other half stays in the Chamber until 6:00 (second dismissal). To make things even more exciting, Ms. Tedford, our Page Teacher organized for us to meet with all the party leaders, the Clerks, the Speaker, the Hon. Lieutenant Governor, the Sergeant-At-Arms and even the Premier! Each Page also got the opportunity to have a one-on-one lunch with their MPP.

In the office of the

 Clerk of the Legislative Assembly

 Deborah Deller 

Lieutenant Governor of Ontario 

Elizabeth Dowdeswell

Meeting the leader of NDP
 Andrea Horvath

                                     

With the Speaker Hon. Dave Levac

With our Premier Hon.Kathleen Wynne

Although the whole thing flew by extremely fast, I must admit that the first week was the hardest…When I found out what had happened to my best friend, everything just slowed down for me. She was constantly in my thoughts! I walked to the hospital and visited Olga almost every day. Olga is much, much better now, yet we still NEED to keep thinking of her and visiting her, as she is going through an incredibly difficult time right now!

HAPPY: my first visit after Olga woke up

The past four weeks were the best in my life! I made lifelong friendships and I am sure we are going to remain in contact throughout our lives! All of the MPPs, Clerks, the Speaker, the Sergeant-At-Arms and the constables were just so nice and supportive of us, Pages! And yes, as it is a paid service, I have made $15 a day!! I have decided that there are others that need the money more then I do, so half of what I earned I have donated to S.O.S. Children’s Village, an orphanage in Serbia and the other half I happily gave to Complex Care Clinic of SickKids (As you know I am a singer. Our holiday concert this year is being used as a fundraiser for the Complex Care Clinic at SickKids, and so far I have raised over $1000!)

Ripley's Aquarium: first Friday field trip!!

   

Should teenagers have credit cards?

   Until reading the article "Does your teenager need a credit card", I didn't really start thinking about credit cards too much and I didn't really recognize them as an important topic. As I am too young and too inexperienced to understand the importance and purpose of credit cards, I wanted to first get to know the subject matter before deciding whether I support teens having them or not. I searched for some information and I also talked to my brother Dario, who just recently got his own VISA and has his G2, about credit cards, possible alternatives and ways to teach teens to be financially responsible. After lengthy discussions I came to realize that I do not believe that it is the best option for teens to have credit cards in a way that it is described in the article.

    By definition, the word credit means "the ability of a customer to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future." Credit cards are basically just cards that let you borrow money from the bank. Of course, like anything else in life, what you borrow you must return, and when not returned, there are certain consequences - namely, in case of credit cards, very high interest rates. Although it may seem like a really good thing that you can just spend all the money away, and despite the pricey cost for it, it can be REALLY tempting, and if too much money is spent then it can be really hard to pay back.

      

  Debit cards on the other hand, I believe, are a very good alternative. They are better solution for emergency situations as well as to financially educate kids. While you can still spend all of the money, you don't have to pay it back, but at the same time you need to earn/save that money before you start spending it. It can both teach teens to be responsible when spending money, and it is very easy to transfer money from a parents account in case of an emergency. To use my brother as an example: if need be my parents transfer money online to his savings/checking account he can access that money instantly, while if they transfer money to his credit card for the money to show up on his account takes a day or two.

     While credit cards are quite good when it comes to emergencies, I think it might not be the best tool to teach teens about responsible money handling. While buying things on credit can be good for large amounts of money, they can also be very tempting to spend. Growing up in a world full of peer pressure teens can easily be tempted to spend "their unlimited" amount of money on things they really don't need. The author of the article acknowledges that credit cards can be financially dangerous in the hands of irresponsible teens and advises parents on how to avoid the possible dangers of credit cards. What the article fails to do is explain is why, besides "building" a credit history opening teens up to these risks is necessary at all, BEFORE young adults learn to handle money that they really have. So, I think that alternatives, like using debit cards, might actually be better than credit because they teach young adults good financial habits. Rather than rely on someone else to bail you out in an emergency, debit cards teach you how to be self-reliant and save for a rainy day. Both my brother and I have savings accounts that are easily accessible by debit cards, and we both agree that debit cards are a good way to teach people to save your own money and make you fully aware when you spend more than you can afford.

    After all my research on this very complicated topic, and the lengthy discussion with my brother, I have decided that I do not agree with teens having credit cards in a sense that it is described in the article. I believe that teens should be first taught to be responsible when spending money. Credit cards give the feeling of "unlimited freedom", but lets face it... that's just not the truth. Why put anyone in a situation like that before they are financially educated. Teens can have their OWN credit cards when they turn 18. By that age, I believe, all of us should be able to learn how responsibly to handle money, and it is still not late to start "building" our own credit history.

   

     

If you could spend a day with anyone in history, who would it be and why?

                “My childhood in Corfu shaped my life. If I had the craft of Merlin, I would give every child the gift of my childhood.” 

― Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals

Gerald Durrell 

with Ulysses the Owl

     My entire life, my father who is a vet but also a nature lover, has always been pushing me to read books about wildlife, and animals. There was one book that he actually managed to convince me to read, that ended up being one of the best reads I have ever come across. It's one of those few books that you cannot put down until you reach the final page, one of those that open your mind to see the world from a whole new and more colourful perspective. Not less importantly, the author's irresistible humour makes this read even more enjoyable. When I was eleven, while on vacation in France, I finally decided to read My Family And Other Animals by Gerald Durrell. I swallowed it in two days. Without any thought, if I could spend one day with anyone in history, I would definitely like to spend it with Gerald Durrell.

On the Azure Coast in the Yellow Villa with Blue Shutters 

reading 

My Family and Other Animals

      Besides being a famous author, Durrell made a carrier as a naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, and a television personality. He was born in 1925 in British India, but his widowed mother soon moved the family back to England. At his age of ten, the family - unable to acclimatize to the grey and rainy homeland, relocated to the sunny Greek island, Corfu. This is where Durrell spent the most wonderful years of his childhood, creating a bunch of hilarious, sad and happy memories, that he later wrote books about- including Birds, Beasts And Other Relatives, The Garden of the Gods, and the most famous of all, My Family And Other Animals. As a child, he never wanted to learn about anything other than animals and nature, but his mother refused to accept no formal education as an option. He was home-schooled and tutored by some of his oldest brother Lawrence's friends, and by Dr. Theodore Stephanides. Theodore became Gerald's idol in no time because Theodore understood Gerald's interests in nature better than anyone else. When World War Two broke out, the Durrells thought it was best for them to move back to England. Everyone was heartbroken, especially Gerald. 

Dr. Theodore Stephanides

     As a teenager, he managed to find a job in a pet store, and later in a zoo. This opened his mind to the thought of working with animals as a career.  He desperately tried to join animal collecting expeditions overseas, but was denied many times due to lack of experience. Finally, using inheritance from his late father, he financed his first expedition to Africa, to collect animals for various British zoos. Soon, Gerald Durrell came to the realization that one of the main roles of zoos today should be in preservation of endangered species. He started focusing on collecting specimens of disappearing species and organizing their breeding in captivity. In 1958, after a few successful expeditions to Africa and South America, Durrell first founded his own Jersey Zoological Park that housed his growing collection of animals, and only a few years later, the Jersey Wildlife Preservation Trust. In the 1970s, the Trust became a leading organization in the field of captive breeding, helping to rescue species like the Lowland Gorilla, and various Mauritian fauna. The Trust later opened chapters worldwide. Even in Canada, the Trust is among the most successful nature conservation funds.

    It was a very long and exciting journey that Gerald took: from the little adventures boy passionately exploring all shapes and forms of life on island of Corfu, to the celebrated author and one of the world's most famous conservationists. Although Gerald Durrell's entire life was an extraordinary adventure, I would still choose to spend a day on Corfu with Gerry the ten year old boy.

    It is early morning and I imagine myself sitting alongside Gerry in an olive tree grove, watching scorpions nest, listening to cicadas warble, and eating fresh figs. We are just on our way to meet the Rose-Beetle Man, and Roger is running around us, exploring with his nose and happily wagging his tail. The Rose-Beetle Man will sell us a little tortoise that we will name Achilles. That day, we would also get a ride from barrel-bodied, with ham-like hands, taxi driver Spiro Americanos in his ancient Dodge and have an outdoor lesson with Theodore. We would go home for lunch and see that Lawrence's very strange friends are back once again.  I'd say that the sun would be so hot, that the whole family would be up for a dip in the Mediterranean where the fish would nibble our toes, followed by a nice fig, grape, and olive snack in a local families home. By evening, when we return to the Daffodil Yellow Villa Gerry's mother, with Lugaretzia's help, would have prepared a delicious greek dinner. To finish off the evening, we would all sit around the fire place listening to Les' terrible attempt to sing and play the guitar.  
The way that Gerald described the tiny island, makes the entire thing seem like a dream. The warm, friendly, yet superstitious people who live on it, it's beautiful beaches, and the unlimited roaming and discovering. Spending a day with Gerry on Corfu would be full of scents, island sunshine, exploring for hours on end, swimming in the Mediterranean, and having lots of fun with his strange yet, loving family: 'Mrs. Durrells' (that is how Spiro called Gerry's mom), Larry - the oldest brother, already a famous author, Les who is obsessed with guns and weapons and Margo, his sister who just cares about her looks! Spending just one day with the Durrells in Corfu would teach me more then a week of school would! 

Gerry and Spiro with the Dodge in the background

    
It seems now that the world Gerald Durrell grew up in is long gone! That way of life belongs to the past, but as he depicts it so colourfully and lively I wish if we would try to live like that today: close to nature, with patience and kindness, in a big and strong family, true friendships, and enjoy simple things and simple life.

      Unfortunately, Gerald Durrell passed away just a few years before I was born, so I will never get a chance to meet him. However, his work lives on, and I hope I will one day get a chance to visit Jersey.

     

    

In no less than 300 words, argue whether responsibility for Ivan's death lies mainly with Ivan or with his tormentors.

       As the wind howls, on a freezing cold night in a Russian village, a Cossack lieutenant dares a timid little man called Ivan to face his worst fear: crossing the cemetery. He gives Ivan his sabre to stab it into the ground in the very centre of the graveyard, to prove that he has completed the dare. After a few glasses of vodka, with the encouragement of the reward of five gold rubles, Ivan accepts the challenge. In the cemetery as Ivan drives the sabre into the ground, he doesn't notices that he pins his own jacket down. When he tries to get up, no matter how hard he pulls, he cannot get up. Without thinking the situation through, he becomes the victim of his own fear. He is found the next morning in the centre of the cemetery lying dead. Not frozen to death, but literally scared to death. He had let his imagination get the better of him. But who is to be blamed for this rather strange death? Is it the lieutenant for challenging Ivan, or was Ivan himself responsible for accepting, and letting his imagination get the better of him.


       "You are a pigeon, Ivan. A rabbit. A coward. You'll walk all around the cemetery in this dreadful cold to get home, but you dare not cross the cemetery." From this sentence, one will get the idea that the lieutenant is a terrible person, a bully, and consequently Ivan's "murderer". Of course, that was my opinion to... until I read between the lines. As we already know, the lieutenant is a leader, he is a Cossack who are known to be strong, proud, freedom loving people who were born soldiers in the Imperial Russia ruled by the Tsar. Because of this, one is under the impression that he allows himself to boss others around, and wants to seem more important than anyone else. However, when daring a weakling like Ivan only to make himself seem braver, stronger, and nobler, the lieutenant comes across  rather as a bully or rascal then any of the above.

       Ivan on the other hand, lives all alone, and far away from everyone else in the village. From this we know that Ivan is a poor and lonely man. Every night he goes to the village saloon and gets a drink before walking to his lonesome shack. The other villagers tease and mock him about his shyness and cowardliness. When the lieutenant challenges Ivan, he shows that he is very timid. When the lieutenant tells Ivan that his reward is five gold rubles, Ivan is motivated to accept. Possibly because to a meagre man as he is, a reward of five gold coins seems like a fortune and even because to a poor, lonely soul like Ivan is an acceptance of his neighbours means tremendously. 

       When I first read The Cemetery Path instantly another dare that could have ended fatally came to my mind: ""Then I dare you to do it," said Josie defiantly. "I dare you to climb up there and walk the ridgepole of Mr. Barry's kitchen roof." "Don't you do it, Anne," entreated Diana. "You'll fall off and be killed. Never mind Josie Pye. It isn't fair to dare anybody to do anything so dangerous." "I must do it. My honour is at stake," said Anne solemnly. "I shall walk that ridgepole, Diana, or perish in the attempt. " In Anne of Green Gables, Anne did not die, and she accepted the dare for an entirely different reason, yet this is a very similar situation to Ivan's. Both Anne and Ivan were challenged to do something they really did not want to do, and although for different reasons, they accepted the dare.

       In conclusion: although the arrogant lieutenant is the one who starts the dare only to bully Ivan, and gain even more popularity among the villagers who are even more fuelled to mock the weakling, I believe that Ivan is responsible for his own death.  It is Ivan’s imagination that gets the better of him. If he were to have taken a deep breath and to look at where he has stabbed the sabre he probably would not scare himself to death. There are many dares that we all accept for one reason or another, some like Anne's dare are very foolish, while others may have meaning like Ivan's.

      "It's not because things are difficult that we dare not venture. It's because we dare not venture that they are difficult.”

                                                                      ~  Seneca the Younger

                                                                          Roman Philosopher who lived                                                                                                                                          from

                                                                                                                           4BC -  65AD