The second day of the 89th Winter Session of YPM began in the morning with heated debates regarding the Personal Liberty Act and the Natural Resource Management Act. YPM was lucky enough to have Conservation Minister, and former member of YPM, Bill Blaikie sit in on the final comments of the debate regarding the Natural Resource Management Act.
Many members of the media came out to the Legislative Building to interview youth parliamentarians and record the morning sitting. Major media contacts (CBC, CTV, Global and The Winnipeg Free Press) attended the morning sitting, and new and returning YPM members were interviewed.
At lunch, the NDP Caucus of Manitoba hosted a luncheon with sub sandwiches and juice. A refreshingly honest Q&A with Premier Greg Selinger highlighted the concerns of our session members for our province, and our Premier answered in a creative, but straight-to-the-point fashion.
Later in the afternoon, we had our third sitting with a lively Question Period and separate committee meetings, which produced many amendments to three of the bills.
In the fourth sitting, after dinner, members discussed the Family Law Act and the People’s Representative Act. The house was full of passionate and serious debate regarding the current rules concerning custody battles, wards of state decisions and divorce cases.
Throughout the day, alumni stopped by to clerk and view our proceedings, including Nirbir Grewal, Ben Wickstrom, Dana Gregoire, Shannon Pickell, Martin Lussier, Carlee-Ann Dueck, Darren Praznik, Dane Allard and Danielle Northam.
After a long, and highly eventful day, 89th Winter Session members returned to Kelvin High School with tired eyes, tired minds and excitement for the Bear Pit and more debate tomorrow.
The Member for Ottawa South, David Bredin is looking forward to presenting his maiden speech before the House tomorrow. Bredin hopes to become a politician one day, and highly anticipates hearing the stories of former Manitoba MLAs, Howard Pawley, Reg Alcock and Darren Praznik tomorrow during the Bear Pit.
“I think we have a lot to learn from the history of the political process, especially here in Manitoba,” said Bredin.