This week, Parry Sound – Muskoka MPP Norm Miller welcomed local student Sage Nakamoto to Queen’s Park as part of the Ontario Legislative Page Program. Sage is a student of Muskoka Montessori School in Huntsville, but will be serving the Ontario Legislative Assembly as a page and living in Toronto until December 8, 2016 when the House rises to end the fall session.
“It is always great to have our local students from Parry Sound – Muskoka serve as pages,” said Miller in a release. “I am sure that Sage will continue to do a great job during her period of service here and I would encourage any interested grade 7 or 8 students to explore what the program has to offer.”
Sage’s father, Craig Nakamoto, said via email that she has a gruelling schedule, but is enjoying the experience. “Twice a week she is at Queen’s Park from 7:45am to 4:30pm and twice a week she is there from 7:45am to 6:15pm. She says that question period can be quite amusing and while the members can be quite animated at times, they are all very nice to the pages. The page program is certainly not for everyone, but if you are a good fit, it can be a very educational experience!”
As part of her duties, Sage must learn all of the more than 100 MPPs by name and face, their riding, their party, their seat in the chamber, and any special titles or roles they have, said Craig, as well as the procedures and strict protocols in place for the various activities that take place in the chamber. The pages perform various tasks including delivering communications between the members, clerks, and the speaker, and serving glasses of water. She also gets to experience commuting through downtown Toronto on the GO train and TTC system for four weeks.
The Ontario Legislative Page Program is open to all Grade 7 and 8 students, who are excused from their school for the duration of their duty and receive an honorarium of $15 per day. The full details of the page program as well as the application information can be found here.
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