McKinnon Park student joins MPP at Queen’s Park for day

CALEDONIA—McKinnon Park Secondary School Grade 9 student Colby Adams got a firsthand look at daily life inside Queen’s Park, hanging out with MPP Bobbi Ann Brady and sitting in on question period as part of ‘Take Your Kid To Work Day’.

“I think the best part of being in Queen’s Park was the history of the building,” said Colby of the unique experience. “I had an opportunity to tour most of the building of Queen’s Park and its chambers; I also had a chance to go in the restaurant and watch question period.” 

TORONTO—McKinnon Park student Colby Adams poses outside the Queen’s Park office of Haldimand Norfolk MPP Bobbi Ann Brady.

Brady said that Colby had approached her about the opportunity a few weeks earlier. 

“I’m always very happy to take people with me to, number one, see what happens in the building on any given day, and number two, it’s such a beautiful place to visit. I particularly like taking people at Christmas because it’s extremely magical. There’s this magical moodiness about the place,” she said.

Colby said his interest in government is mainly “just about having beliefs and things that I care about and how those beliefs are defended by an elected government.”

He also noted, “I was kind of surprised to see how diverse all political parties were; I wasn’t expecting all parties to be as diverse as they were.” 

Brady added, “I think that his interest in government and politics kind of stems from the family. Colby comes from one of those families that talks about current issues, current affairs, and talks about roles and responsibilities of people in their community around the dinner table. I think that is so important nowadays for young people, knowing how the world around them is functioning and paying attention.”

She continued, “A lot of people don’t pay attention to the role of government and what it does until they start being billed and they have a mortgage or put gas in the car. At Grade 9, Colby is already kind of in tune with what’s going on in the world around him. Does he want to be a politician, anything like that? I don’t think so, but he certainly is aware of what a councillor does, what a mayor does, and the difference between what they do and what an MPP or MP does.”

Brady said that, inspired by question period, she and Colby spent the car ride home discussing the issues he’d heard about.

One particular issue interested him greatly: “I thought it was interesting how MPP Brady is fighting to get stoplights at Haldibrook Road, because my grandparents live on that road, and I’ve always known how busy it is there,” he said, referring to the stop lights scheduled for installation at the intersection at Highway 6 in 2028.

Another thing Brady noted about Colby’s visit was how he immediately identified the media room at Queen’s Park as the place where former education minister Stephen Lecce and Premier Doug Ford would make daily reports during the Covid pandemic.

“That surprised me, how much that was sealed in his memory. Here is a kid who was waiting to see when he could go back to school; he obviously saw those news conferences because he recognized the room immediately,” said Brady.

While Brady praised modern educators who are “doing a good job with our civics courses within our secondary schools,” she noted, “my office still gets a lot of calls from people who don’t really care whose problem it is, they’ve just made a call and they expect you to help. It might be a federal issue, it might be a municipal issue. I think it’s important for our kids to take those civics classes.”

She shared some insight on how she personally got involved in politics at around the same age of Colby.

“Growing up I was a shy kid, but I certainly paid attention to what was going on in my community.… I started writing letters to the editor when I was in grades 7-8. I think it’s a fantastic way to want to learn what other people are thinking,” she shared. “If you have an interest in politics, I always say it doesn’t matter who you get involved with, just pick someone you like and go work on their campaign at the municipal, provincial, or federal level.”

Despite Brady’s encouraging words, Colby concluded, “I’ve never really thought about being a politician. I’ve been thinking about maybe one day working at Hydro One like my dad and my uncle, either in lines or maybe electrical engineering.”