Ontario Model Parliament

The Ontario Model Parliament (OMP) is a model parliament for high school students in Ontario, Canada. The OMP was founded in 1986, much through the efforts of Dr. Paul Bennett, a former history master at Upper Canada College in Toronto. The OMP is not affiliated with any political party.

Approximately 200 students participate in the OMP each year. The annual OMP commences with an "Elections Day", in which the "government" and "opposition" are established. The delegates then prepare their "legislation" for the legislative sessions held in the spring. The students convene at Queen's Park, the legislative building for Ontario. The students debate their bills as if they were real Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). In addition, the delegates hear from keynote speakers. In the past, such speakers have included John Tory (Leader of the Opposition for Ontario), James K. Bartleman, the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario and Rex Murphy, political commentator and host of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Cross Country Checkup. Ontario Model Parliament will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2011.

Past simulations

Dates

For 2011, the dates for OMP are the following:

• Elections Day: March 5, 2011

• Simulation: April 27th-29th, 2011

Governance

For 2011, the Ontario Model Parliament Executive includes:

• Consulting Chair: Jamie Henderson
• Operations Chairs: Ryan Manucha and Shashwat Koirala
• Chief of Staff: Malik Ismail
• Secretary: Sebastian Marotta

• Director of Events and Activities: Frankie Lam
• Director of Outreach and Advancement: Brandon Sit
• Director of Marketing and Registration: Vincent Lam
• Director of Academic Programming: Malik Ismail
• Director of Communications: Matthew Henderson

• Associate Director of Registration: Jason Pang
• Associate Director of Marketing: Dean Ricci
• Associate Director of Events and Activities: Nishan Thayalan
• Associate Director of Speakers: Sebastian Marotta
• Associate Director of Security: Seamus Power
• Associate Director of Information Technology: Winston Kwok
• Associate Director of Academic Programming: Chris Taylor
• Associate Director of Academic Special Events: Simran Ahluwalia
• Lead Researcher, Academic Programming: Jeff Weaver
• Lead Writer, Hansard: Eric Tweel
• Associate Director of Advancement and Alumni: Chris Taylor
• Associate Director of UCC OMP Programme: Daniel Chiang

• Faculty Adviser: Mr. Matt Griem

External links

• OMP official website.
• Upper Canada College.