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Power to the youth

No vehicle emissions testing, no extra school holidays, junior MLAs decide

Derek Neary
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (May 16/03) - Junior MLAs killed two proposed pieces of legislation -- one which included an extra month off for students each year -- in a mock proceeding at the NWT Legislature.

The first bill of the annual Youth Parliament called for school days to be one hour longer.

In exchange, students would get an extra month of summer vacation.

Ross Lafferty, a Grade 10 student at Deh Gah school in Fort Providence, was opposed to the idea.

"Some students will forget about what they did last year ... it's a long period of time, three months," said Lafferty, who was representing the Deh Cho riding in last week's proceedings.

He added that parents of young children would also need to find child care for an extra month every summer.

Mitchell Byatt, a Grade 9 student at Thomas Simpson school in Fort Simpson, was one of the minority to vote in favour.

"People would be able to get more money for the holidays from summer jobs," Byatt, Nahendeh MLA and cabinet minister, argued in vain.

The second bill would have forced all motorists in the NWT to have their vehicles tested for emissions.

"We thought it was like a waste of money," Lafferty said.

Byatt concurred.

"They already have the Kyoto agreement, so that doesn't make sense," he said of emissions testing.

The topic of Byatt's member's statement was Super Soccer.

Playing the role of Jim Antoine, he also got to make a minister's statement.

In it, he touched on the situation in Cameron Hills, where First Nations are seeking compensation for oil and gas development.

Byatt said he thinks politics would make a "really interesting" career.

Lafferty noted that Michael McLeod, Deh Cho MLA, gave him some pointers on how to expand on his member's statement.

In it, Lafferty hailed the Deh Cho First Nations' interim resource development agreement and interim land withdrawals.

He said he isn't sure he wants to follow in McLeod's footsteps, trying to please all the constituents.

"It's a lot of work, but other than that it's a good job to have," said Lafferty.

"It gives us a pretty good understanding of what politics is all about in the Northwest Territories."