It was even better than anticipated.
Elusha Baird, a senior student at Lampman School returned recently from Ottawa where she attended a week-long Forum for Young Canadians, an event that will probably go a long way toward shaping her career and decisions going forward.
Baird said much of the travel and accommodation costs associated with the adventure were covered through fundraising efforts that included support from the Lions Clubs of Lampman and Estevan and the Forum program itself, plus her own financial input.
While in the country's capital, Baird said they engaged in an intense schedule of events and activities including a visit with Souris-Moose Mountain MP Ed Komarnicki in the Chateau Laurier ballroom where they discussed grain transportation issues.
"It was an evening with the MPs and it was good to see so many of them there. They understand how important it is to get young people involved," she said.
"I got to sit in the House of Commons, met Speaker Andrew Scheer. We mostly talked about football because he's from Regina, and I sat in the Prime Minister's chair, too," she said with a smile.
The 80 or more forum candidates also observed a parliamentary debate regarding the Senate scandal, and the student, who just turned 18 and is now eligible to vote, said she was impressed with the demeanour of the participants.
"It was interesting to see how they went at it and their speaking styles. Prime Minister Harper can almost appear emotionless while Thomas Mulcair (Official Opposition leader) spoke with a lot of passion. It's most interesting to witness this live," Baird said. "It's a lot different from what I expected. It's more like a high school cafeteria during a lunch break, and that's not just during question period," she said with a laugh.
Baird said she took a lot of notes and observed party unity within the House of Commons.
"The whole experience exposed me to a lot of brilliant minds. We had some great debates, planned and unplanned. We had one good one regarding Export Development Canada and the export of our products and insurance concerns when the buyer doesn't pay. Where is the backing? Do you hold on or lose the deal? I got to represent EDC as we negotiated terms and tried to find common ground and at the end, we did. While we worked on it, we got to understand what goes into international deal making."
The Forum for Young Canadians also presented the delegates with the challenge of mounting a political campaign of their own to promote a person they felt would make the best prime minister. Names were bandied about including well known departed Canadians such as Terry Fox and Emily Carr. "Our team had David Suzuki," she said. "And we won."
The delegates were formed into numbered teams, and Baird was a member of Team 8 and her teammates were from all over Canada. This was done with a purpose so that delegates wouldn't cluster in provincial groups.
"They figured out I was from Saskatchewan pretty quick when I used the phrase bunny hug," she said with a chuckle.
On the speaker's platform, Baird said she spoke out on immigration issues, whether to raise or lower numbers. She got to deliver the PM's speech for her team and she felt she gave it one of her best efforts ever.
"I had just heard Thomas Mulcair and PM Harper go at it so I had to decide on the passionate or the cool. Immigration is a subject close to me because it took me two years to get my Canadian citizenship, so it was great to talk about something I had experienced and was passionate about myself," the American-born student said.
The young delegates also enjoyed a breakfast meeting with a group of senators and Baird said she was impressed by the number of women in the upper chamber.
"The daily schedule ran from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and some sessions were grueling," she said.
The agriculture and dairy farmers lobbyists paid them a visit, too, and Baird noted that some of the young delegates from Ontario had worked on Parliament Hill so they knew their way around and were familiar with many issues.
"Yes, we discussed grain versus oil on the rail and again, because I had an agricultural background, I found the issue interesting.
"It was always good debate material when we got into the Senator Duffy and Mayor Rob Ford controversies."
Baird said she found it curious that no local media attended any of their activities, but the meeting with MPs, especially the young NDP members from Quebec, shed a light on what goes on in Ottawa.
"We also got to elect delegates for some crazy positions, like someone who would most likely be a dictator. We toured the House of Commons, Parliamentary Library and the Peace Tower and sat in the Senate and visited Rideau Hall," she said.
Although she didn't get an opportunity to meet Harper, Baird said she came close, about 40 feet away. If she had been able to meet him, she said she probably would have asked him what he was going to do about moving grain out of Saskatchewan quickly.
"After this experience, I gained an appreciation regarding MP's thoughts, feelings and how hard working, normal people they really are."
Baird is now back home, preparing for the next academic year that will take her to the University of Calgary in pursuit of a commerce degree, and she said she expects to remain politically active.
The young student has not only been active politically, but also socially, having participated in fundraising for Third World efforts in the Me to We program for example.
"There are so many things to do and people to help. In the meantime, I'll juggle schoolwork with jobs and keep doing what I'm doing. I like the faster pace," she said with a quick smile before heading off to an afternoon work schedule followed by some homework and some dress rehearsals since she's involved in a couple of plays being produced by the Lampman School's Drama Club.
"I work through it, a day at a time, on a schedule," she said.
