General News

Orangeville student shares highlights after finishing Page Program at Queen’s Park

December 4, 2025   ·   0 Comments

By Joshua Drakes, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

An Orangeville student who was selected to participate in the Queen’s Park Page Program has completed her term and is leaving with a new perspective on how the provincial government is run.

Elizabeth Demczur, a Grade 8 student at The Maples Academy, just outside of Orangeville in Amaranth, was selected to participate in the Legislative Page Program at Queen’s Park for the fall 2025 session.

After living in the heart of Toronto, close to Queen’s Park, during her time in the program, Demczur is back home in Orangeville, and said that working with Ontario’s lawmakers was an experience she’ll never forget.

“It was really cool to work closely with the MPPs and see what they do, especially for me, during the question periods in the morning,” she said. “I’m definitely feeling pretty good about it. I was very tired the first week I got back from it, though.”

For the last several weeks, Demczur got a front row seat to the inner workings of the provincial legislature.

Her duties, while not widely seen by those unfamiliar with parliament, were important. Bringing water to MPPs during debates, passing notes between colleagues, and bringing votes to the speaker were among the more mundane jobs.

But there were special assignments, too.

One of which was Demczur’s favourite job: working with the Hansard Index.

“That job was definitely my favourite job,” she said. “The Hansard is the log of all the talking that goes on within the house. Every day, it gets logged and filed, so we would take all the notes up to the Hansard officer on the fifth floor to be filed, and then we take them back down to the MPPs. It was probably my favourite role, partly because it got me out of the house, because it could get a bit boring after a while.”

“It was really cool that we were allowed to go up there, because normally, only staff for the office could go there,” Demczur added.

Alongside her duties working with the MPPs in parliament, Demczur had the chance to observe how the MPPs acted in the house, both during and after debates.

She said that their attitudes to each other could change dramatically.

“It was a very interesting thing that I saw during the debates,” she said. “Especially during the morning question periods. I could see how mad they would get at each other. But once it was finished, they’d suddenly get all friendly with each other again.”

Demczur said that after working with and observing parliament’s routines, she’s come out of the experience stronger, having developed her skills with the help and encouragement of staff and lawmakers. Overcoming her own nervousness was the first step.

“I think my personal skills are definitely better now,” she said. “At first, I was really nervous going into it, especially on the first day, but the MPPs, ushers and security were really friendly. If you didn’t know where to go, or if you didn’t know someone, they would help you out.”

Looking back on her time at Queen’s Park, Demczur said that she’d love to do it all again if she had the chance, and is considering the Legislative Student Usher Program when she reaches university.

For now, though, she has some advice for any students thinking about the page program.

“Apply, even if you’re not sure that you want to apply,” she said. “It’s a great experience, and it’s a lot of fun. I learned a lot about government and how it works, because we would have a legislative class when we weren’t in the chambers to learn about the different branches of government and how it all worked, even (at) the federal level. So I would say to definitely try to get in if you’re thinking about it.”

With one chapter now firmly behind her, Demczur has emerged changed and more knowledgeable, and a firm supporter of the page program, which continues to offer both hands-on character building and first-hand education on the inner workings of Ontario’s democratic system.

Readers Comments (0)