The Ontario Model Parliament (OMP) was 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. OMP was ended after its thirtieth session so that it could be combined with another event to form a larger conference, OMUN.
More than 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 The Hon. Elizabeth Dowdeswell (Lieutenant Governor of Ontario) in 2015, Kathleen Wynne (Premier of Ontario) in 2014, John Tory (formerly the Leader of the Opposition for Ontario and currently Mayor of Toronto), James Bartleman (formerly the Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario) and Rex Murphy (political commentator and host of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Cross Country Checkup). Ontario Model Parliament celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2011.
Past simulations
+Ontario Model Parliament Session Year Location Junior Premier Senior Premier Chairs 302015 University of Toronto & Queen's Park Adam Rothman Kyle Fitzgerald Aleksei Wan 29 2014 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Jordan Samaroo Conor Healy Aleksei Wan & Sachin Pasricha 28 2013 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Nikhil Kassum Romeo Tello Christopher Taylor & Sachin Pasricha 27 2012 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Conor Healy Kaleem Hawa Ryan Manucha, Malik Ismail, Sebastian Marotta & Shashwat Koirala 26 2011 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Lucas Manucha Kaleem Hawa Jamie Henderson, Ryan Manucha & Shashwat Koirala 25 2010 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Christopher Taylor Kaleem Hawa Ali Jutha & Jamie Henderson 24 2009 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Taylor Webb Jeremiah Rivers John Henderson & Ali Jutha 23 2008 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Ryan Manucha Kyle Crawford David Marshall & John Henderson 22 2007 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Steven Xu Will Meneray Emma Groia & David Marshall 21 2006 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Jaimie Hildebrand Olivier Mclean Emma Groia & Brandon Soeiro 20 2005 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Steven Lee Shamir Dawood Brandon Soeiro & Zachary Schwartz 19 2004 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Chris Horkins Rahim Bapoo & Brandon Soeiro 18 2003 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Farouk Hussein Mark Salzman & Derrick Leung 17 2002 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Chanakya Sethi 16 2001 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Ryan Gallagher 15 2000 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Jonathan Schachter & Jamie Cameron 14 1999 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Sagar Chandaria & Tim Tutsch 13 1998 Upper Canada College & Queen's Park Martin Ross
Dates
For 2015, the dates for OMP are the following:
Elections Day: April 7, 2015 Simulation: April 8–9, 2015
Governance
For 2015, the Ontario Model Parliament Executive included: Chairs: Aleksei Wan Vice Chair: James Coady Director of Academic Programming: Nikhil Kassum Director of Registration: Javid Karim Director of Communications: Kinton Cheung Director of Operations: Shakir Lakhani Director of Delegate Services: Miles Hoaken Secretary: Matthew Jagdeo Head of Press Corps: Derek Lam Faculty Adviser: Mr. Matt Griem
References
External links OMP official website . Upper Canada College.