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In recent weeks, Manitoba’s legislature has generated no shortage of headlines about its lack of decorum.
From non-stop heckling to rebukes and expulsions to a new list of “banned” words, there’s a sense that politics in the province has reached a new low.
But, before today’s Question Period, there was a sign of hope.
Rising in the legislature, Independent MLA Mark Wasyliw drew attention to students from a school in his Fort Garry constituency. But these weren’t just any students; they were student journalists from Earl Grey Press.
I had the good fortune to meet with the budding reporters in the fall as part of the launch of the Free Press Media Literacy Project.
Earl Grey School students examine the June 2025 edition of the Earl Grey Press. (Ruth Bonneville / Free Press files)
In his remarks, Wasyliw talked about how Earl Grey values student voices and how the lunchtime club now counts more than 30 students in Grades 4 to 8.
“They all work together to complete their articles and all 30 plus voices are heard in every monthly publication making this truly a team effort,” he said of their newspaper.
Wasyliw also gave a shout-out to our education reporter, Maggie Macintosh, who has been their mentor, as well as Rebecca Chambers and David Wall, two educators working in our newsroom on this project. That initiative, meanwhile, was recognized last week at the International News Media Association’s Global Media Awards in Berlin, where it earned third prize in the community service campaign category.
“I ask my fellow members of the legislative assembly to join me in congratulating the team of the Earl Grey Press on their success,’’ Wasyliw said, leading to a standing ovation that crossed party lines as the MLAs saluted student journalists watching from the gallery. (Watch a recording of the address.)
That rare sign of unanimity in a chamber so deeply divided no doubt made quite an impression on the young journalists.
I’m not sure what the students were expecting when they donned their reporter hats and headed to the chamber beneath the Golden Boy.
But, if assigning them to watch over our politicians helps reverse the decline in decorum, perhaps Earl Grey should become full-time members of the Legislative Press Gallery.
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