成人大片 Model Parliament heading to the Hill

成人大片 Model Parliament heading to the Hill

January 13, 2015

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[Queen's Model Parliament]
Students participating in last year's Queen's Model Parliament enter the House of Commons. (Supplied photo)

The House of Commons will take on a decidedly youthful look this week.

A group of 330 students from Queen鈥檚 University will be in Ottawa for Queen鈥檚 Model Parliament (QMP), a three-day event starting Wednesday that will see them forming political parties, drafting legislation and engaging in debate on issues of the day in the House of Commons itself.

While several other post-secondary institutions have similar programs, QMP, at 68 years and counting, was the first to actually be held in the House of Commons and is the longest at three days.

According to Read Leask (Artsci鈥17), QMP co-chair along with Lucia Guerrero (Artsci鈥15), the focus of the conference is to engage youth in the nation鈥檚 political process with experiences that can鈥檛 be gained through the classroom or textbooks.

鈥淲e bring 330 delegates and our goal is not to create 330 Members of Parliament or future leaders. Our goal is to make 330 engaged citizens who are very informed about the political process in Canada,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hat is what they gain. They gain the skills of being able to know how to write an actual parliamentary bill, how to participate in a parliamentary debate.鈥

Another difference, Mr. Leask points out, is that QMP brings in a different member of political life to preside over each bill.

鈥淪o that gives us the opportunity to bring about 20 speakers over the course of the three days,鈥 he says. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a huge diversity in opinions and ideas that the students are exposed to from these leaders.鈥

Last year鈥檚 event drew such political names as Leader of the Opposition Thomas Mulcair, former Liberal leader Stephane Dion, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird, Kingston and the Islands MP Ted Hsu and former Speaker of the House and current Fellow at Queen鈥檚 Peter Milliken.

New to this year鈥檚 edition is a panel discussion with high-profile members of Parliament Hill鈥檚 press corps to give students an inside view of the media.

While the debates and bills passed are not binding, the debates are real and delegates prepare for months by attending weekly meetings where they learn about the political process.

This year鈥檚 QMP is being held Jan. 14-17. For more information visit .

Arts and Science