Hello Grade 9's!
Go to either http://www.cbc.ca/news/ or http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/. Choose a topic that interests you and is an issue for Canadians (it must be relevant and debatable). Comment to this blog post with a summary of your article, a link to your article, and a debatable statement (full sentence or question) that outlines the issue addressed in your article.
Go to either http://www.cbc.ca/news/ or http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/. Choose a topic that interests you and is an issue for Canadians (it must be relevant and debatable). Comment to this blog post with a summary of your article, a link to your article, and a debatable statement (full sentence or question) that outlines the issue addressed in your article.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/03/07/edmonton-alberta-budget2013.html
ReplyDeleteAlberta borrowing $4.3B to make up budget shortfall
Alberta government will need to borrow around $4.3B to make up for lost money in the budget.
In my opinion there is a major issue coming along with this. The USA is Trillions of dollars in debt from borrowing money, an interest rate on $4.3B is going to stack up very quickly over the course of only one year. The fact that we are short money with a province as vast as ours amazes me.
I think we need to make the budget only one year long. Having a shorter span will let us make a decision next year. If our economy has improved, go ahead make the budget 3-5 years long, if Oil is still not to where we need it to be, put it together for another year and try again until we meet our needs. There’s a major problem when we have the Oil Sands and the Mountains that should be making us a large revenue, clearly we are either underestimating or we have less attraction to what we have to offer.
Are Canadians eating healthy enough?
ReplyDeleteMatthew Jackson
A Canadian study that tested 80 Canadians found that the majority are not consuming the recommended nutritional value. The amount of sodium intake of Canadians is a major health problem. About 99 percent of the people tested for sodium intake per day consumed more than the amount recommended.
The recommended amount for sodium for one day is 1500 milligrams. The high sodium intake of unhealthy food is leading to hypertension, strokes, obesity, and even heart attacks. In my opinion the health of our Canadians with the food they eat is a major issue and the government needs to address it because it won’t just fix itself.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/03/07/marketplace-sodium.html
Métis win Historical land
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/03/08/pol-metis-supreme-court-land-dispute.html
‘The Supreme Court has ruled that the federal government failed its obligations to the Métis people” – CBC news
The Métis people have gotten upset about the government not fallowing their deal they made back in 1870. They finally got their way on March 8th 2013. This ruling has finished three decades of legal challenges between the Métis and the federal government of Canada. The Métis people argued that they are not following the promises they made when the Canadian government established the Manitoba act. The Manitoba act promised to set aside 5,655 square kilometers of land for children of the red river Métis. This land deal was made during the Red River Rebellion. The Federal government actually gave them land through a lottery, destroying all of their home land territories. The Métis people finally wanted a change and eventually, after 15 years, got there way.
Do you think that the Canadian government should have made things right? In my opinion I agree with everything the Métis people are arguing. They should get their end of the deal with the treaty they made in 1870. Why would the Canadian government just rip them off like that? I think they just took the Métis for granted. I’m so glad that they eventually got their way.
Educators predict layoffs, school closures following budget
ReplyDeleteAlberta is now struggling with the new budget which reduces the grants for Alberta colleges and universities which means Alberta is struggling for giving students to get the best possible highest quality education.
This is issue is very important since” This will have a major impact on students and the future of this province” quoted cannon. They need to go back and talk to the stakeholders and change the province’s post-secondary system. Since the new budget is now reducing to $147 million by next year the president of the University of Calgary Elizabeth Cannon sates that the future of Albertans would be receiving their future education elsewhere.
Should Albertans make this an issue? And make the government put more money towards education? Or should we allow this new budget? And keep letting our education keep decreasing
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/03/07/edmonton-budget-education-reaction.html
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/01/22/edmonton-arena-advancer-5-things-to-watch.html
ReplyDeleteShould Daryl Katz spend all of the tax-payers money on a new downtown arena instead of health care or other important things? The estimated cost of the new arena is $480 million. I think the new arena is a good idea because the old arena is the 3rd oldest in the NHL. Rexall place opened in 1974. I do have one concern about arena though. I think the location is inconvenient because downtown is really busy as it is and with the new arena it will be hard for people to get to and from work. The arena is predicted to be started in the summer of 2013 and finished in the fall of 2016.
North Korea Cancels non aggression pact with south
ReplyDeleteNorth Korea canceled their non aggression pact with South Korea and the north continue to test nuclear bombs. North Korea has already threatened the U.S with a nuclear bomb and say that if any enemies intrude their territory they will retaliate with a bomb strike. The UN security council has already voted to punish North Korea for these nuclear bomb test but if they attack North Korea will strike back. If North Korea dose decide to strike the U.S the white house said they are ready to defend them selfs.
If a War does start between the North and South most likely Canadian solders will go and try to declare peace but should we risk our own solders lifes to try and solve a problem on the other side of the world.
I think if a war starts between the North and the South that Canada shouldn’t get involved because it doesn’t concern our Country and we don’t want to become another target for North Korea.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2013/03/07/north-korea-cancels-peace-deal.html
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ReplyDeleteAlberta is facing a huge deficit of $1.97-billion and is also borrowing $4.3-billion to make up the payments for “capital projects” and Minister of Finance, Doug Horner’s “cash requirement” of $6.3-billion in the 2013-2014 provincial budgets. Should we spend less money on huge projects and save for resource revenue? As Albertans we will have to spend 44 cents a month through our cell phone bills to fund for 911 services. Is this a good thing or will it make our money issue only worse? There is a lot going on in our province about money and these were only a few problems listed. You can find the entire article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/03/07/edmonton-alberta-budget2013.html.
ReplyDelete-William Graham
12 Hamiltonians arrested after investigation of medical marijuana grow-op.
ReplyDeleteTwelve Hamilton residents were arrested Thursday morning after police say they found 240 mature marijuana plants.
Police say a marijuana grow-op was disguised as a medical marijuana operation which had licenses to cultivate these plants.
The RCMP’s allegations are that they have abused the MMAR [Health Canada’s Medical Marijuana Access Regulation system] and had plans to profit from the marijuana.
According to Hamilton police, the licenses for medical marijuana production were confiscated.
The accused face multiple charges such as, participation in a criminal organization, possession for the purpose of trafficking a controlled substance and trafficking a controlled substance. All were let go on their own recognition.
Should medical marijuana laws stricter? Should it be harder to get a medical marijuana growing license?
http://www.cbc.ca/hamilton/news/story/2013/03/07/hamilton-medical-marijuana.html
Canada has created 51,000 new jobs for Canadians in February. It was way unusual for everybody. Canada took some statistics that the unemployment rate was low. There was as much jobs and people who were looking for jobs! That’s a lot. The numbers were about 6 times more than economists have been predicting.
ReplyDeleteManitoba was the lone province losing 3200 jobs. Ontario and British Columbia were the highest gaining 35,000 and 20,000 respectively. All other provinces experienced slight gains. The massive gain was almost evident from the second half of 2012 said royal bank of Canada. This is very good for Canadians who need jobs. It opens up a lot of new opportunity. 51,000 people from around Canada will have new jobs. That’s amazing for people who are unemployed.
Alberta borrowing $4.3B to make up budget shortfall Colton Broomhall
ReplyDeleteIS ALBETA EVER GOING TO BE ABLE TO RECOVER FROM THIS DEFICIT?
Alberta has dug themselves into a very big hole. We are in big trouble here. We need to learn from this and regroup as a province and re think our budget. There is no reason for being this much over budget and we need to get this under control before we are in debut for at least a generation. We expect that we are going to grow to roughly 5 million people which is crazy, especially with a horrible financial disaster going on right now. We need to expand as a province and we can’t do that if we are in debut.
If we can get this under control we can surely take on a bigger population. By getting all these residents we are in need of school hospitals and homes. If we can’t get all these things we can’t take on the population. The new residents will be great for us as a province and a country. Alberta is in a 1.97 billion dollar deficit and has borrowed 4.3 billion dollars from other provinces, we need to tighten up and get this under control.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/story/2013/03/07/edmonton-alberta-budget2013.html
China Warns Against Korea Escalation
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21713340
Tensions between North and South Korea continue to rise with threats of a nuclear attack. China, North’s ally, has stated that both sides should talk instead of ‘yelling’ to avoid further conflict. All though China and North Korea are allies, China is opposed of them conducting nuclear tests. After a resolution made by the Chinese and US officials was passed on Thursday, North has canceled all their non-aggression pacts with South.
The two Koreas have signed non-aggression pacts over the years helping to resolve disputes between them. With this cancellation, they are closing the border between North and South; cutting off the North-South hotline; pulling out of the armistice. The armistice is what ended the Korean War. Not only these, but North has claimed the right to launch nuclear weapons to any of their enemies.
Will this conflict keep rising and start a war? If this conflict keeps on, will Canada go in and help South Korea? Should we go in and help them?
51 000 New Jobs in Canada
ReplyDeleteIn February, there were a total of 51 000 new job openings across Canada. This job expansion was estimated to have 8 000 new jobs. The estimate was six times less than the actual outcome. Both Full and part time jobs had openings with the majority of the jobs coming from the private sector. Most industries experienced gains except for manufacturing ho had a decline in jobs. Both Ontario and British Columbia had a main increase of jobs with a total of 22 000 new jobs. The other provinces had either a slight gain or did not change at all in the number of jobs except for Manitoba. Manitoba was the lone province with 3 200 fewer jobs. The past six months of 2012 had a number of 30 000 new jobs per month. That came to a sudden stop in the month of January which had a total of 22 000 job losses. But Friday’s data suggests that may have been an anomaly.
Although there is an expansion of new jobs across Canada right at this moment, who is to say that there could be a huge job loss like in January coming in the next few months?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/03/08/business-jobs-february.html
Topic:
ReplyDeleteAlberta borrowing $4.3B to make up budget shortfall-Cameron Ness
Is Alberta going to be able to recover from such a deficit?
Alberta is in trouble. We estimate the time of our financial issues will be up to a generation; as we expect in the next 17 years we will gain 5 million residents and there will have to be expansion of Alberta in many ways. Schools, Hospitals, and many new roads this will put Alberta farther under the debt we are in now. How are we ever going to get out of this? Will the Government be able to manage Alberta properly with insufficient funds in our budget? Many people are asking these questions, will we ever know the answer? Who knows?
The deficit we are in is uncontrollable at this point we are too far under for over spending on things Alberta doesn’t need. The oil prices going down have put Alberta in a very tight situation financial wise. We now have 1.9 billion dollars less then we need for our 2013 budget, with this issue Albertans tax payers will not be able to get half of the things we got before.
Current Events: March 8th
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/03/08/us-navy-training-environmentalists-endangered-species.html
Earlier today the Californian Coast Commission and the US Navy had a meeting in San Diego about the Navy's training program in the waters of California and Hawaii. The Navy would use explosives and sonar training which could harm marine mammals and sea life. The Commission suggested additional wildlife protections, but Alex Stone, who directs the training program, said if the protections come in place, it could make training unrealistic. They estimated that only 130 animals would die and 1600 animals to have hearing loss in the next 5 years. The commission's staff suggested that they should make safety zones so no high sonar would be able to use where whales are concentrated in that area and would stay one kilometre away from shore to protect dolphins. Environmentalists said to avoid using explosives during the night because marine mammals are hard to detect at night and avoid habitat where endangered and vulnerable species are at risk.
Should the Navy accept the rules and regulations and put them into account when and during training and will this issue affect the Canadian waters to other species because many depend on others to strive?
http://www.cbc.ca/m/touch/canada/ottawa/story/2013/03/10/canada-parole-board.html
ReplyDeleteCanada's parol board has started to handle the 22000 pardon requests that have been awaiting decision since march of 2012. This is when Steven Harper quadrupled the application price for pardons. Many are disgruntled about this because the people who applied after the price was hiked, are boosted to the top of the waiting list, even In front of those that have been waiting for years to have the applications read. This is preventing many people from carrying on with there lives, since they are being held back by having a criminal record. It's said that the entire backlog was caused by the case of graham James, a sex offender who was silently pardoned. Which caused many people to get angry, this in turn caused a massive crackdown on pardons applications.
In an attemp to handle the large amount of pending applications
The board hired and trained 21 temporary clerical staff and pardons officers, but even with the extra help the backlog isn't expected to be handled for another 2 years.
Question: is it ok that they government put new applications in front of long awaiting ones because of the price?
This article is about post secondary education . The post secondasy instatutions were expecting to recieve 2 % increase in educational grants from the new provincial budget. Instead the ended up with 6.8 decrease in educational grants. Students are upset because they will have to pay more tewishin fees . the staff is upset because , their working conditions will get worse (they might have to fire staff members , or less pay , even less money for programs .)
ReplyDeleteShould they allow these cuts to be done ?. I dont think so because it wouldnt be fair to students or staff members .. it would decrease in alot of things , like jobs and education for the students.
the link to the website :http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/Canada/Calgary/ID/2341648351/
Should the Métis have gotten their land years ago, or should they not have gotten it at all?
ReplyDeleteMétis win historic land dispute ruling in Supreme Court
SUMMARY: This article is written by Wayne Glowacki, and is about the Red River Métis. “The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that the federal government failed in its obligations to the Métis people.” -CBC News
This whole deal started when the government of Canada made a deal with the Métis 140 years ago. They promised to give the Métis 5,565 square kilometers of land to end the Red River Rebellion. Now, at the Supreme Courts of Canada in Manitoba, the ruling of 6-2 recommends that the 5,565 square kilometers that the Métis got was well deserved.
I believe that this land was deserved decades ago, but the task was not carried out. This is my opinion: About time! This issue has waited far too long.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2013/03/08/pol-metis-supreme-court-land-dispute.html