A local high school student has just taken part in a unique program that has given her a better look into how the province works, and potentially set her on a path to one day return to the halls of Queen’s Park.
Alexis Latter is a Grade 10 student at Fort Frances High School who has recently returned from Toronto where she finished off the months-long Model Parliament for High School Students program held by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario. As part of the program, Latter has been collaborating with students from across the province as they learned more about the inner workings of the provincial government and worked towards an intensive three day in-person program held at Queen’s Park.
Latter said she first learned about the program when representatives spoke with her civics class at the high school late last year. Once she learned what the program was all about, Latter said she knew it was something she wanted to get in on, not realizing it was going to make her a unique applicant.
“As soon as I found out about it I texted my mom, I’m like, ‘hey mom, I want to apply to this program, the application is due in three days,” Latter explained.
“I had to get a recommendation letter from a teacher from my school… I had to do, I think three essay questions and then just basic facts about me. I’m actually the first person ever from Northwestern Ontario to apply for this program, and this program has been running for 10 years. I talked to the ladies after, and they said I’m their ‘success story’ because they finally got someone from Northwestern Ontario [into the program].”
Latter explained that before her high school civics class, she was not particularly familiar with politics in general, but after learning more at school and gaining what she calls a love for the topic, she felt like the model parliament program would offer her a chance at a unique opportunity. Upon being accepted into the program, Latter said she then got to work with more than 100 other high school students as they were split into different political parties and began the process of learning all about legislative operations.
“I started in November, and for from November till February we got separated into parties,” she said.
“Our parties had to create a party statement, we had to create our party name, all these little bits about our party and then each party was given a topic to write a bill on. Every single party wrote a bill, mine was on the restrictions of sales of energy drinks, and so basically we created all the points within our bill, we handed them back and then we got given the copies of the other parties’ bills so we could deep dive into them and see what we were going to talk about when we’re at the legislature.”
The three day in-person portion of the program was held from Wednesday, February 28 through to Friday, March 1, 2024, with each day allowing for the program participants to experience different facets of provincial politics while still working towards their final assignment; the Friday session of their model parliament held within the Legislative Chamber at Queen’s Park. Even with the pressure of a simulated legislative session hanging over them, Latter said they still had plenty of time to speak with and learn from Legislative Assembly staff and sitting Ministers about the work.
“On Wednesday it was basically kind of like meeting everyone, learning a bit about everything. We got to watch question period, which was really cool. We got tours, we got to meet a whole bunch of people who worked there, including a bunch of MPPs. I got the chance to have a one-on-one meeting with [Kenora-Rainy River MPP] Greg Rickford while I was there, which was really cool because he said he didn’t get a lot of visitors from his riding, so he wanted to get the chance to meet with me. But yeah, we had some caucus meetings while we were there, discussing our bills, and then the second day we were basically in the caucus meetings the whole time.”
Latter said the meetings allowed them to further discuss their bills and those of the other parties’ to develop critiques, supplementary points, and amendments they might want to make. There were also more meetings with MPPs, and more discussion of what the Friday would bring for the students.
Before long it was the morning of the day itself, and Latter found herself sitting exactly where those who govern the province do their thing.
“The third day was the big day, the day we were in the chamber,” she said.
“We were all in different MPP’s chairs. I was a part of the official opposition, so I was on the opposite side. We had a first reading and then question period, then a second reading and then after lunch we had about two hours worth of caucus meetings to make the amendments to our bills and look at the amendments other parties made to their bills, and then finally was the final reading and the voting.”
Latter said she has the opportunity to ask the first question of their question period, holding the other parties’ Minister of Finance to task on where they planned to get the funding for their proposal, and successfully seeing her party’s bill passed through their session. She’s also had the opportunity to meet with a who’s-who of Ontario politicians thanks to Rickford, who she said introduced her to many of his colleagues, as well as the House Speaker.
Of the experience, Later said she came out of it with a far greater understanding not just of the politics of the province, but the role of the politician, having to consider the needs of her specific riding and all those who live there when deliberating and voting on the many bills that pass through the Chamber. She also noted that, while she felt those students from southern Ontario and the Greater Toronto Area might have come into the program with a better understanding of specific issues owing to their geography, she was able to learn from them and the MPP’s who spoke with them in order to meet the other participants on the same level.
“I felt proud of myself when I was able to be in a conversation with all these people and be able to keep up with them, because they already knew so much,” she said.
“At least being able to chime in every once in a while about different things, I feel proud of myself for that.”
Latter also said she took the program as an opportunity to shed some light on the differences between the northern and southern portions of the province.
Going forward, Latter said that, at the very least, she now knows she wants to go to school in Toronto, as post-secondary school students in the city have the opportunity to serve as student ushers at the legislative building. She also said she wants to study political science, and maybe one day attend law school, but now there’s a new potential spot on her future resume as well.
“I might want to actually run for MPP possibly in the future,” she said.
“The big thing is I want to help northern Ontario, and after being down there and seeing it and realizing that no one knows what it’s like up here, I really want to try and benefit northern, northwestern Ontario.”
She also encouraged any local students with even a passing interest in politics to apply for the program, which is offered on an annual basis, and to get the one-time-only chance to experience the inner workings of provincial politics.
“If you’re interested in politics or anything sort of in this area, I say 100 percent apply,” she said.
“100 percent apply, because it was honestly the best opportunity I’ve ever had, and it was just incredible the whole time. The whole experience, it was unbelievable, and if you enjoy politics or anything like that you will 100 percent enjoy this program. It’s incredible.”
