Tension sweeps across the legislature as the honourable members engage in an impassioned yet respectful back-and-forth.
One voice explains why the bill should pass; another summarizes precisely why it should not. Others sit quietly, weighing the pros and cons on the teeter-totter of their minds.
It’s not the usual sort of drama to encompass teenagers, but there’s no other place Brandon Kolt would rather be.
Kolt, 17, is coming off a stint with the Youth Parliament of Manitoba, a mock parliament held each December in the Manitoba legislature.
“[We] debate in the very seats that our MLAs do, the very seats that the people who represent us do as part of their job,” says Kolt, a well-spoken Grade 11 student at Hapnot Collegiate. “It’s so humbling to stand and speak.”
December marked Kolt’s second term with the Youth Parliament. Telling of the respect he had earned among colleagues, he was promoted from backbencher in 2014 to parliamentary secretary to the rural development minister.
For five days between Christmas and New Year’s, he and his fellow legislators, all ages 16 to 20, lived at a Winnipeg high school and made their way to the legislature each morning.
As Kolt explains, they “debate all morning,” break for lunch and “debate all afternoon,” with some time reserved for “fun activities.”
Everything follows the same parliamentary procedures used by actual politicos. That’s key since some of the youth parliamentarians hope the experience prepares them for the real deal – some day.
Kolt is one of those rare individuals who has followed politics since before he was in the double digits, when many of his peers were still hooked on far less mentally stimulating fare.
It all started in January 2009 when he was nine years old and stayed home from school one morning to watch US President Barack Obama’s first inauguration.
“I remember just appreciating leadership and just speaking out to the people,” says Kolt, the lone youth parliamentarian from Flin Flon.
“I guess I’ve loved politics ever since then, and…it really makes me happy to hear people’s arguments and concerns about what should be changed, about what should be legislation and what should not be legislation.”
All of this raises the inevitable question of whether politics are in Kolt’s future. While he is leaving that door wide open, he can’t commit for certain – and that’s because he’s 17, not because he’s trying to sound like a politician.
“I’m still very young,” he says. “There’s still a lot I need to do, still a lot I need to figure out, but I wouldn’t be that surprised if I pursued something similar in that area. I think I’d be very happy to do that.”
In the meantime, Kolt hopes to return to the Youth Parliament for a third term in December 2016 – because there’s nothing like a good debate.
