ACTUALLY MEETING THE LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR!
Today was such a BIG day for this little PEYge.
I was PEYge Captain again (second time! Yeah!!!)
My Noni and Boppa and sister, Taylor, came to visit me and got to sit in the Members' Gallery. MPP Clark officially welcomed them to Queen's Park! When I was getting ready to go in the Speaker's Procession, the Sargeant-at-Arms posed for a picture with Tay and me and then he gave Taylor a special golden MACE pin! Lucky sister!!!!!
Then we had our lunch and meeting with the Clerk, Deborah Deller (which you already read about).
THEN it was time to meet the Honourable David C. Onley.
We went up to his office which is quite a big space in the Main Building. It's actually TWO FLOORS! A two-storey office! How cool!!!??? The room we sat in had a fireplace and pictures of past Lieutenant Governors.
Quick Tip: The first female Lieutenant Governor was Pauline Mills McGibbon in 1974-1980.We all had to stand when Mr. Onley entered the room as a sign of respect. Mr. Onley is in a motorized scooter because he had polio when he was a child and now suffers from post-polio. His legs and hands are very affected. It's because of this that he is such a strong advocate for people with disabilities.
He told us that the Lieutenant Governor is appointed by the Prime Minister (right now, that's Stephen Harper) out of people across Ontario. His job is to serve as kind of a substitute for the Queen. He gives Royal Assent to bills. That means that when a bill passes third reading, it requires the Lieutenant Governor's signature before it is finalized. He is acting as the Queen (because she is our monarch) and signing to make it official. Because the Queen can't be here all the time, the Lieuteant Governor is her representative. He goes to many meetings and talks with dignitaries and people across Ontario on behalf of the Queen. When he meets someone he says, "I greet you in the name of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth".
There were 3 flags in the room. One was a Canadian flag, one was an Ontario flag and one was difficult to recognize. It looked like this:
It actually isn't called a flag, it's called a standard. It belongs to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario. Wherever he is, that standard is raised. Whenever it is raised, it's higher than the Canadian & Ontario flags since he represents the Queen who is the highest ruler. In Canada, each province's standard has that Province's crest surrounded by 10 maple leaves (that represent each province of Canada).
On a desk, there was a Guestbook with signatures from people who had visited him. We got to sign it! :D
We went to the downstairs portion of his office because there was a special exhibit showing pictures of famous Ontarians on the walls. Annelise Carr's picture was there. She was a Page in the Program and is the youngest person to swim Lake Ontario. There were also famous Ontario musicians like Alanis Morissette and Justin Beiber. I was happy to see Karen Kain's picture (she's a famous ballerina)
My Page group with the Honourable Lieutenant Governor, David C. Onley.
--- PeyThePEYge
PS: Today, I picked up a petition from MPP John O'Toole and he may have said, "I will sign my name and give it to Peyton....one of the finest pages we have!" AWESOME!!!! BEST DAY!!!!
P.P.S: Today I got to hold the Sargeant-At-Arms's SWORD! He came into the Underpress and passed it around to us all. It was REALLY SHINY and it had a black handle that had a jewel on it. It was long, pointy and a little heavy.
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