Social Studies 11 is a course that deals with a great deal of history but is really more about what is happening in Canada and the world around us every day. To see evidence of this one really just has to open a newspaper on any given day and take account of the number of news items that directly relate to the themes we study in Social Studies 11.
Right now we are looking at the role of the Citizen and Government.
Your task is to review a variety of news sources and identify current event articles and issues that relate to the role and/or function of government. The issue you select could be a local, provincial, national or world event as long as it fits into Your post must include the following:
1.A link or reference to the article you have selected.
2.A summary of the issue and the article.
3.An explanation of how your selection ties into Social Studies 11 and its importance as a world or Canadian issue.
4.2 or 3 questions your article brings up for you that you would like to see answered in the future.Many of the news links located on the sidebar of this blog are excellent starting points for your news search.
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17 comments:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/reach+most+vulnerable+patients+with+million+program/2522610/story.html
The link above is about health care and how much money we spend on it. Recently, health care established a 48 million dollar program for the most vulnerable HIV patients. Between healthcare and the oylmpics, Canada is in too much debt. We already have shots and medicine for HIV so we don't need a 48 million dollar plan for it.
AJK P1
1)http://www.canada.com/business/Canada+jobless+rate+drops+January/2525975/story.html
2)
The rate of people without jobs in Canada is shrinking. We have more people out there looking for jobs and being successful in finding them. The records show that we have 43 000 more Canadians working in january. Economists were blown away at this fact because it was three times the amount the had anticipated.
3)
This ties into socials 11 because its dealing with our economy. Our economy is slowly getting better creating more jobs. Now that we have more jobs and more people working our economy can grow faster and become more rich.
4)
What jobs are becoming more available?
What types of people are being given these jobs?
S.E p-1
1)http://www.globaltvbc.com/world/RCMP+will+longer+investigate+themselves+Commissioner/2522894/story.html
2) This article is on how the RCMP will no longer investigate themselves. The RCMP will refer cases to outside police forces, or provincial or federal review agencies.
3) This ties into Social Studies 11 by being an issue that is in our community province and country, and something that will provide harsher punishments to terrible cops. It is an important Canadian issue because cops will no longer feel like they can do anything and get away with anything that they do because they are cops. Examples drinking and driving on the job, beating people who are inicent, having affairs with witnesses, getting involved in scandals.....
4) A couple questions i would like answered are:
Why when cops do something wrong they are just put on desk duty or a talking to instead of being fired, thrown in jail, or doing community service?
Why did it take so long to get outside investigations done on the RCMP?
LT P-1
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/04/william-elliott-rcmp.html#socialcomments-submit
This article explains how the RCMP are no longer going to investigate themselves. They said when death or serious injury occurs dealing with an RCMP member doing it that they would not use members of that RCMP area to investigate. They say that they will bring in two investigators from a defferent area in order to investigate. I think that this is good because too often they would just investigate themselves and then just cover up everything they did with another story.
This ties into socials 11 because it is a story that has to do with our government and even higher powers of government. It is imporntant as a canadian issue because this is going to help when the RCMP get investigated for things like the death of the Robert that polish man who was killed while being taserd in a vancouver airport.
I would like to know more about the death or Robert, i would like if there was an ivestigation done using these new means of investigation.
P-1
GK
Steven Harpers desision is to vistit the BC government after he suspended Parliment is competely stupid. The fact that he closed Parliment means that he is incapable of running the government. This is the second time he has perouged Parliment and now he has done it again. There is no way the he should come and "visit" BC's government when he has created so many problems already. He is just in the province to be involved with the Olympics nothing more. The Olympics however is nothing more than a big party that will make Canada look good to the rest of the world. Many people think that since the Olympics were decided before all the current cuts to funding. But in fact they are. The real reason i think that all this funding has been cut is because the government ran out of money for the Olympics. Really if they cut out half of the partying before hand and didn'thave a tourch relay that cost so much then there would be better funding for all sorts of things. As you can see BC has enough problems to deal with as it is. Now are Prime Minister that can't even get is act together in Parliment is coming to our our Province and will only cause more problems. The fact is people need to do something about that way the government does things and start standing up for our beliefs. This relates to Socials 11 because it shows the corrupt ideas of Canada's current government.
J.J Period 1
Link:http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/04/bc-harper-addresses-legislature.html
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/insidepolitics/2010/02/jackwatch-ndp-leader-to-make-announcement-on-his-immediate-future-as-ndp-leader.html
2)This article is about Jack Layton making an announcement on his status and future as the NDP leader. Many people people think that he is going to resign as leader.
3)If he does resign, it will affect who the government by who will run next. This will affect our Socials 11 class by a new having a new NDP leader.
4)Will he actually resign? If he does, who will be next?
RJ P-1
http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/hst/article/738403
The above link is an article containing opinions and facts on the new HST tax coming to Canada. Listing the good with the bad, most citizens are against this new tax, though the HST tax is expected to bring about six hundred thousand or more jobs in the next ten years.
If the facts show that if you file your taxes, and are low income you should be better off, why is everyone so against this new tax?
Will the number of jobs outweigh the amount of extra money we will have to pay?
H.B.
Period - 1
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/761064--deal-easing-buy-american-policy-comes-at-a-price
The link above is about the canadian government making a deal with the US government.
B.M P1
Prime Minister Harper is acting like a 'King of Olde'
This article talks about how bad a prime minister Harper is. His porogueing of the government is setting us back months. When he does that anything that they were in the process of doing has to be done all over again. For example if they were about to export something new then after the porogue they have to do the investigation, the voting, investigation and the convincing all over again. Also Stephen Harper does not see the great differnce between Canada's government system and the USA's he is spending a lot of money talking to Americans about how to run our very different government. He raised the pay for all the MP's so noe the MP's and the senates total pay a year is over $400 million. Only 22% of canadian voted for him, he should not be in power.
Question 1- Why can he be a leader if only 22% of the population wants his group in power.
Queation 2- What can we do to try and make the government a better system. Not as corrupt as it is now.
AP P-1
http://www.canada.com/business/Canadian+gains+better+than+expected+January/2529082/story.html
Recently the statistics show that 43,000 more Canadians have jobs. In December the unemployment rate was 8.4%; however, the percentage this month has dropped to 8.3%. That is a three times better outcome than what had been expected. This is also the first increase noticed since the fall of 2008. More than half of these gains were produced in Ontario, women and youth making up the majority of the growth.
This ties into our Socials 11 class because we are studying about the government and its responsibilities. The unemployment rate affects our government a lot, from tax money to homelessness. A lot of the jobless people are youths, these youths are not only the future, but also they have to pay for schooling and various other things. It is important for this rise to continue in order for our country to be successful.
Will this increase continue to rise?
What condition were the 43,000 people in before they received jobs?
How are we doing in comparison with other countries?
--GB period 1
http://www.theepochtimes.com/news/6-3-17/39416.html
This article discusses the controversy surrounding the 2010 Olympic Winter Games. Despite promises VANOC and the provincial government have failed to manage the Games properly. Already the budget has been overrun which will fall on taxpayers shoulders in the long run to get B.C. out of debt. Despite claiming that this would be the most environmentally friendly Games ever VANOC has completely disregarded several endangered species and important habitats for their own agenda. Millions of litres of water is being used to supply the Games with enough snow. Yet if the atheletes were moved to different locations around B.C. that had the required amount of snow it would not only be cheaper but the rest of B.C. could enjoy the benefits of the Olympics. The secrecy surrounding the Olympics is disturbing and it is frustrating that the governement does not come clean with how much the Games will cost to the public.
This ties into Socials 11 because it deals with the provincial government and VANOC mismanaging the Games (and lying through their teeth,) how the Olympics will affect the public, environmental issues and B.C.'s economy.
Will the Games actually benefit B.C.? Will taxes be raised? Is anything going to be done about the endangered species and the complete disregard of various and important habitats?
S.R. P-1
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/02/05/ott-buy-american-deal.html
2) America has exempted Canadian firms from their 'Buy American' clause. Before, America gave priority to their own manufactured goods to build roads and stimulate their economy. Now critics are saying that this deal was done a 'little too late' because that most of the money made from this deal has already been spent.
3) This article ties into Social Studies 11 and Canadian issues because it exemplifies how trade agreements work between two countries.
4) I would like to know how this new deal will change both ours and the United State's economy. Will more people have jobs now? And will our relations with the US change because of these last tedious trade agreements.
A.R. P-1
http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2010/02/04/gene-doping-athletes-olympics.html
This article is about the research on gene therapy. This is a type of experiment where they inject new genes that produce proteins that are meant to block disease. The problem with this is that athletes have been taking risks on trying to use these genes to make them stronger and faster. These gene injections have only been tested and approved in mice, there are many risks when they tested them on other animals. With the olympics coming up many athletes will be trying to use "gene-doping." There is no way yet for them to detect if they have used genes, but a hugely improved muscle mass may signal gene use.
This is a big canadian issue because these athletes that will be competing in our olympics can cheat and most of them wont be detected. It is also a huge risk to these people.
The questions that I would like answered in the future are:
1) What are they going to do to make it possible to detect these gene injections in humans?
2) How are they going to make these genes just for immune enhancement and not cause muscle growth?
JM P-1
http://au.sys-con.com/node/1272174
This article talks about one of the many ways Canada's Economic Action Plan is creating local jobs and investing in North Vancouver's community and British Columbia's future. The company Allied Shipbuiilders Ltd. has been awarded a $15.5 million contract for repairs on the CCGS Bartlett. According to the action plan $74 million of the $175 million announced for the coast guard will be invested in life extension for five and Canadian Coast Guard's largest vessels. *CCGS Bartlett being one of them*
This ties into our Socials 11 course in that it displays one of the many ways the government plans to increase economy not only for communities but provinces as a whole.
What I would like to know is how does the repair of this coast guard vessel affect the economy across the province? And if the $15.5 million invested into a contract will immediately create more job opportunities but what will happen when the repairs are done in March 2011? Will the people who were given job opportunities be back to square one once the project is finished?
EP P-1
1)http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/article/GB/20100207/CP02/302079987/-1/PRINCEGEORGE0103/most-canadians-think-vancouver-olympics-will-go-over-budget-says-poll&template=cpArt
2)
According to a recent Canadian Press Harris-Decima poll 84% of those polled believe that the Vancouver Olympics Games will go over its estimated budget. 3% felt that the Games would be under budget and 6% felt they would break even. This skepticism about the budget is said to be due to the amount overspent on the Montreal Olympics in 1976. This is compared to the Calgary Olympics in 1988 where they actually profitted. The VANOC states that they believe they will break even with regards to the budget. A previous poll also stated that 72% of Canadians felt that the benefits outweighed the costs while only 50% of BC residents felt that way. Also discussed is how the mens hockey will decide if the event is worth it or not.
3) This ties to Socials 11 because it deals with how money is being spent and how citizens feel about it. It shows how our government polls its citizens and asks them how they feel towards what the government is doing. It shows a citizen/government relationship.
4) What does the government do with the information found in polls taken? Does it affect how they make their decisions? Are there any other examples of government/citizen information sharing?
MR P-1
http://www.cbc.ca/politics/story/2010/02/10/nb-community-energy-policy-reaction.html
This article outlines how New Brunswick's new Community Energy Policy is doomed to fail because the government isn't providing enough funds for the environmental group to start up any substantial projects. The government has proposed to pay ten cents per kilowatt hour of renewable energy produces, but the environmental group claims that's not enough. Suggestions of various environmental leaders have been made to the government to include in this policy (such as rewarding communities that use renewable energy), and a request for project proposals is expected to go out by the end of May.
This articles relates to Social Studies 11 because it focuses on the role of provincial government concerning environmental issues. It shows how Canadian government views the importance of environmental issues and that the government mostly is unwilling to adequately fund environmental projects.
Will this new policy gain any momentum within the next few months and perhaps bring in more funding, or will it fail like other Canadian environmental policies have?
Will Canada (not just New Brunswick) FINALLY start making an attempt to meet environmental goals it has made in the past any time soon?
CM P-1
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/02/26/bc-olympic-traffic-closure.html
2. This article talks about the road closures that are in effect in Vancouver right now and how they will stay in longer. The police and street organizers feel that there will still be a lot of people in downtown Vancouver so they have to keep the streets closed for a little bit longer. The article also states that the Sky Train will run longer and even 24/7 for a short time.
3. It ties in Socials Studies 11 because it shows what powers the municipal government has. They have control over their own roads and how to control them. It is an important issue because the people of Vancouver, who had to struggle to get back and forth to their house for two weeks, will have to wait another two days.
4. 2 questions that this article brings up for me that I would like answered are: Why would you still keep some roads closed when you are going to upset your own residents? Don't you feel that two weeks is enough to cater for the needs of the tourists and maybe it is time to start thinking about your loyal residents?
H.G Period 1
3.
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