Carberry teen among 67 getting taste of political life

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This article was published 29/12/2016 (3383 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Carberry teenager Paren Anderson, 17, is in the midst of a tumultuous week as a federal backbencher, representing the Ontario-based Bay of Quinte electoral district at the Manitoba Legislative Building.

It’s Anderson’s second year with the Youth Parliament of Manitoba — a non-partisan, non-denominational corporation and registered charity that this week is in the midst of a model parliament session in Winnipeg.

All the stops have been pulled for this year’s 67 youth participants from throughout Manitoba, who have found themselves taking residence at the Manitoba Legislative Building to debate federal laws and policies.

There, youths have found themselves surrounded by like-minded people they can act out real-life scenarios alongside, Anderson shared.

“They’re all very interested and diverse and generally it’s just an open community and place to learn better speaking skills and get better at talking in front of a big group situation.”

While she notes that a handful of interesting bills have come up thus far, the one she’s looking forward to is still on the horizon for later this week, when they debate a proposal to repeal laws that prohibit multiple marriages.

“I think it’s a great idea to allow more freedom to marry who you want,” she suggested.

Reflecting on his first day as federal minister of rural development, 17-year-old Leslie Kretai of Warren said that wielding the full force of democracy felt pretty good.

“When you go into an election, you vote for them to make decisions, but if you’re in the chair making votes on decisions that’s a whole different thing,” he explained. “I just find it so much fun to have more of a say in what’s going on.”

While the youths share a professional atmosphere most of the time and adhere to strict dress codes and other such formalities associated with parliamentarians, Anderson said that there is a lighthearted spin to everything.

They even debated Pokémon, she explained with a laugh.

While neither Anderson or Kretai are considering careers in politics, both agree that their involvement with Youth Parliament of Manitoba have helped in their understanding of Canadian democracy.

Further to that, Kretai said that he has learned to respect politicians, who are occasionally faced with difficult situations.

On Tuesday morning, Kretai spoke against a new constitutional right for Canadian citizens to have access to a healthy environment — a cause he believes in but whose bill carried flaws in its execution.

“You can criticize something without being against or in favour of something,” he explained — a message that’s often lost in messages’ dissemination to the public.

“Now that I’ve talked to some politicians … I realize that most of them are just everyday people who are trying to represent their constituents,” Kretai said. “They’re just trying to help their constituents.”

Youths will continue playing the part of elected officials at the Manitoba legislature throughout the week, capping things off with a closing ceremony on Friday evening.

» tclarke@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @TylerClarkeMB