Behind The Scenes - Adventures Into the Unknown!
Yesterday and today the Pages were very lucky to get a well deserved break from our duties. Last week, Honourable John Gerretson (the Attorney General) put forth a motion to not have the House sit or any committees meet on these two days so that all the MPPs could go to the International Plowing Match.
Quick Tip: My MPP, Steve Clark, is the Founding Chairman of the International Plowing Match.
So, thanks Mr. Clark.... you're kind of the reason we got today off!!!! :D
Because the House wasn't sitting, we had no Chamber duties so instead, we took Legislative Process class and math and then................
A TOUR!
Not just any tour, because we'd already been on a tour of the Legislature. This tour was an exclusive-Pages-only-no-one-else-is-ever-allowed-to-go-special-super-awesome-mega-tour-of
EVERYWHERE THAT IS SECRET!
This place is FULL of really cool secrets!
First stop?
The basement!
I'm not talking the "Basement" that the Page Quarters is in that people can go to for lunch or to the barber shop or to the nurse, I'm talking the basement, basement. The vault-under-the-earth top-secret-basement.
(Don't worry, when I was down there, I didn't see any bones so I don't think they banished any past Pages there!)
The correct term for the basement is actually the vaults. WHY? Not because there is money like in a bank (though that would be kinda cool) but because there were really heavy steel doors that lead into tiny little rooms where in the old days they would store film. Actual rolls of film that you would watch movies on with a projector. Old film. Movies. Pretty cool.
Why were there vaults to store old movies in in the basement of the Legislature?
Good question!
The reason is that film is highly flammable and delicate so they wanted to keep it separate and locked up without a lot of oxygen so that if they caught on fire it would be contained. They also needed a safe place to store them.
Even MORE exciting is that right there in the Legislature...... actually, in the offices where Hansard is today, they used to watch the movies and give them ratings (like G for General, PG for Parental Guidance).
You heard me. They screened old movies in the Hansard offices and then rated them and stored them in the vaults for safekeeping. This is the COOLEST place on EARTH! (Except for maybe Hogwarts, but this is a close second!)
Our next stop on the tour was on the complete opposite level of the building. The attic.
The attic is really scary at first, but it was so interesting that after I adjusted to the creepiness, I really wanted to explore!
It looks like a basement. It's completely huge (the same size as the Chamber because it is directly over top of it) It's dark and it smells musty. On the floor there are rails that look like subway tracks for moving things around in carts on. Just in case you're clumsy, there are wooden walkways so that you don't step on any of the tracks.
The attic floor with the tracks
The attic ceiling
The large, circular window in the attic is so beautiful! I love it!
My favourite part though was a really big metal container that looks like a vat. It sits on top of a big circular grate on the floor. You can open a little tiny hatch door into the vat and you can look through the grate and see the floor of the Chamber! What a neat place to sit and watch the Chamber proceedings, all tucked away in a tiny little vat in the attic. So NEAT!
Here is what the ceiling of the Chamber looks like from in the Chamber
And here is what it looks like when you look through the vat into down into the Chamber from the attic
You can see the MPP desks!
The vat also looked really cool because it was covered in dust. But better? It was covered in signatures from past Pages who had signed their names in the dust. Very spooky yet artistic. Even better? Dalton McGuinty had signed his name in the dust when he had a tour there. So naturally, I figured if the past premier could do it, so could I! I have now left my mark on the dusty vat in the Legislative Attic. Part of history! :D
There was an airy part of the attic where there was a wall of windows with no glass. Everything was open and bright. It was a cool contrast to the dark dusty area.
We returned back down to the main part of the building and checked out some of the artwork on the walls.
There was a painting of Laura Secord that our guide Julie pointed out to us. I wasn't sure why a painting of Laura Secord was hanging in the Legislature or why it was so important.
It's a very dark painting. Laura looks very manly and really old. Kind of scary.
It was originally right outside the chamber doors but everyone wanted it to be moved because they didn't like looking at it.
They thought something was really weird about the painting so they took it to the Toronto General Hospital.
Why would you take a weird painting to a hospital, you ask!
To give it an x-ray.
(NO, this is not a joke!!!!!)
The x-ray showed that there was indeed another painting underneath the one of Laura Secord! It was of a past premier (George Ross)! A painting over a painting!
WHY?
All of the premiers since forever ago have a painting done of them when they finish their job as premier. It's tradition.
Only Mr. Ross didn't like his portrait. He thought it was awful.
The thing is, you can't just throw out a painting of yourself.
So he did the next best thing.
He ordered someone to paint over it!
This is why Laura Secord looks so manly in the painting! Because she's been painted OVER a man!
Mr. Ross ended up marrying the person who painted his portrait.
Who knew that our Legislative Assembly building would hold so many secrets!!!!!!! Not me! I really enjoyed this tour because it gave me an opportunity to see things that not many people have a chance to see, but also because I like a good mystery and really like a good secret too!
--- PeyThePEYge
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