NLIS 4
November 30, 1998
(Education)
the following statement was issued today by Roger Grimes, Minister of
Education. rt was also read in the House of Assembly:
I am pleased today, to report on the 46th session of the St. John’s
Regional Youth Parliament. This semi-annual event brought youth from
all over the region together to debate issues in the parliamentary
style. During the weekend, the participants had the opportunity to hear
the views of other concerned youth and to voice their own views. They
debated issues which are currently of interest to all Newfoundlanders
and Labradorians and some which we have debated here in this House.
his Youth Parliament has a long tradition and has been a spring board
for a number of politicians who have led this province over the last
five decades.
he St. John’s Regional Youth Parliament is one of five regional
youth parliaments in the province which offers our youth a forum for
thoughtful debate in an atmosphere of respect, enthusiasm, and
camaraderie. I wish to commend the organizers of the event, the Youth
parliament Association, and all participants. In particular I would
like to recognize the Youth Parliament Premier, Dave Tarrant, The Leader
of the Opposition, Rory MacParland, Ministers Adam Barnes, Andrea
Goodman, and Myron Hedderson, and Opposition Critics Marc Field, Shannon
Hunt, and our own House of Assembly Page, Lynn Hammond.
This type of exercise allows our youth to learn and understand our
parliamentary rules and decorum. It was a great learning experience for
participants and may well start the political careers of some of our
future leaders. The level of debate was high and the youth participants
were very impressive in their delivery
t would also like to congratulate our MUN debating team which won a
competition of 32 debating teams from the Atlantic Canadian
Universities, held recently in Chalottetown, PEI. The two areas ofcompetition included two person teams, debating issues in an impromptu
fashion, and an individual public speaking competition. The MUN team
of Ron Fitzpatrick and Dave Tarrant won the debating part of the
competition and Shannon Hunt won the public speaking competition. This
is the second year in a row that MUN has won this competition. Another
MUN team placed third this year and five of the six teams from MUN
placed in the top 10.
It is very encouraging to see the talents of our youth show-cased
in these types of competition and it seems only fitting that we
recognize them for their achievements. It bodes well for our future
knowing that youth of this calibre will lead us into the new millennium.
1998 11 30 2:25 p.m.