‘We care about our future’: Youth Parliament of Manitoba takes over legislature

The 104th session of Manitoba Youth Parliament is currently underway in Winnipeg, seeing teens and young adults debate issues.

The Legislative Assembly of Manitoba may have wrapped up its session for 2025, but it did not stop passionate young Manitobans taking over the building to debate their opinions.

The Youth Parliament of Manitoba started its 104th session on Friday, hosting Manitoban youths at the central hub of Manitoba politics. Over 90 students from across the province, hailing from Winnipeg, Steinbach, Niverville and Saint Theresa Point, opened its session on Friday.

Students will debate three bills – Alcohol Regulation Act, Senate Reform Act and Universal Post-secondary Education Act - over nine sittings until Dec. 30.

Charlize Medina, premier and chairperson of the organization said students’ interest comes from caring about their world.

“As youth, we care about the world that’s going on around us. We are not apathetic to these global issues because we do care about our future,” Medina told CTV News Saturday. “We want to make sure that we live in a world that accepts other people and that continues going on, not rife with conflict and all that.”

Participants are aged between 16 to 20, with most of them being high school students. Medina said the program intends to “get involved in what the Canadian parliamentary procedure looks like and learning about the democracy that we have here in Canada.”

While the organization hosts its session in Manitoba, some students represented ridings of other jurisdictions, such as Toronto and Northwest Territories.

Understanding each other by debating

Medina commented the narrative of debates as to “understand fellow members.”

“We don’t debate for the sake of just having a point to raise and just attacking. It’s more so to understand, to go towards a solution that will benefit society as a whole,” she said. “We’ve had a couple of members just talk about why they love being in this space. It feels like a safe space where they can exchange their ideas.”

Medina concluded the interview with CTV News with one message.

“Debate freely and exchange ideas, but think critically.”

The Youth Parliament of Manitoba is a non-partisan organization, tracking its history back from 1922 Older Boys’ TUXIS Parliament of Manitoba. A party system does not exist within the session, but members have various political ideologies, Medina said.