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Making money matter to Alberta students

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Alberta’s government is getting students the training they need to better understand saving, budgeting, spending and investing.

To make sure junior and senior high students have the financial knowledge for today’s world, Alberta’s government is releasing a call for grant proposals totaling $1 million. The successful organization, or group of organizations, will work with schools to provide financial literacy programming to students starting in fall 2021.

Students will study financial concepts such as costs, interest, debt, investing, insurance and how the economy affects their lives. This call for grant proposals will expand learning opportunities to students in classrooms across the province.

“For the first time in a meaningful way, financial literacy is being addressed across multiple subjects and grades in an age-appropriate way in our province. Understanding how money works will help students gain confidence, solve practical problems and prepare them for the future.”

Adriana LaGrange, Minister of Education

“Strong financial management is the foundation of a successful economy. Likewise, it’s an essential life skill that can add immense value to one’s personal endeavours. This is why I’m proud of the $1 million investment in financial literacy education, which will support our youth transitioning into adulthood and better equip them for personal and professional success.”

Travis Toews, Minister of Finance and President of Treasury Board

“Integrating financial literacy concepts across multiple grades will help to ensure we don’t just prepare students for a successful career, but for a successful life. Teaching financial literacy will empower countless Alberta students with the foundational tools needed not only to manage their finances, but to build their own business. These are essential skills for our changing economy.”

Janet M. Riopel, president & CEO, Edmonton Chamber of Commerce

“It’s never too early to become financially literate. The ability to understand finances, in terms of budgets, income, expenses, saving, borrowing, credit – this is knowledge, skills and practices that will not only last one’s entire life, but enable young Albertans to set themselves up for success and to lead a prosperous life. Students are Alberta’s future entrepreneurs – future business owners, restauranteurs, innovators, creators – all roles that require sound knowledge and insight into finances and budgets. I applaud the Government of Alberta for investing in the financial literacy of Alberta’s next generation.”

Adam Legge, president, Business Council of Alberta

This call for grant proposals builds on successful current financial literacy programs, including those offered by Enriched Academy and Junior Achievement in the 2020/21 school year. These organizations have been working with 39,000 students in Grades 4 to 12 in the past year – in urban and rural communities.

“Normally, the seriousness involved in personal financial literacy can be overlooked when you’re 15 or 16. But through this training, my students and I have been able to have meaningful, quality conversations about investing, credit, debt and so much more.”

Owen Weimer, CALM/physical education/science teacher, Grande Cache High School, and participant in Enriched Academy 2020-21 program

“Before joining Junior Achievement, all I knew was that companies pay their employees, and people have to budget their own money. However, after joining, I learned that there are so many more steps and so much effort goes into this. I’ve also learned all about making decisions that financially benefit a business or individual – break-even points, budgeting, investing, financial management and so many more financial skills. This program has made a change in my life for the better.”

Ellen Fu, student participant, 2020-21Junior Achievement program

By focusing on financial literacy, Alberta’s government aligns with the Ministerial Order on Student Learning released last fall. Developed following consultations with parents, teachers and education experts, it calls for students to acquire competence in managing personal finances.

Financial literacy was also among recommendations from Alberta’s independent curriculum advisory panel. In their report, the panel noted students may leave Grade 12 without the basic skills necessary to transition successfully into life after high school. They recommended financial literacy, work readiness, wellness and goal-setting to enhance student learning.

As part of the work to refocus on essential knowledge in Alberta’s elementary schools, financial literacy is also a key component of Alberta’s draft kindergarten to grade 6 curriculum, under the theme of practical skills. In the draft, all students will study financial literacy in all subjects and grades – from counting coins to creating a budget.

Quick facts

This is a news release from the Government of Alberta.

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Alberta

Premier Danielle Smith hints Alberta may begin ‘path’ toward greater autonomy after Mark Carney’s win

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From LifeSiteNews

By Anthony Murdoch

Alberta’s premier said her government will be holding a special caucus meeting on Friday to discuss Alberta’s independence.

Alberta Premier Danielle Smith hinted her province could soon consider taking serious steps toward greater autonomy from Canada in light of Mark Carney and the Liberal Party winning yesterday’s federal election.

In a statement posted to her social media channels today, Smith, who is head of Alberta’s governing United Conservative Party, warned that “In the weeks and months ahead, Albertans will have an opportunity to discuss our province’s future, assess various options for strengthening and protecting our province against future hostile acts from Ottawa, and to ultimately choose a path forward.”

“As Premier, I will facilitate and lead this discussion and process with the sincere hope of securing a prosperous future for our province within a united Canada that respects our province’s constitutional rights, facilitates rather than blocks the development and export of our abundant resources, and treats us as a valued and respected partner within confederation,” she noted.

While Smith stopped short of saying that Alberta would consider triggering a referendum on independence from Canada, she did say her government will be holding a “special caucus meeting this Friday to discuss this matter further.”

“I will have more to say after that meeting is concluded,” she noted.

Smith’s warning comes at the same time some pre-election polls have shown Alberta’s independence from Canada sentiment at just over 30 percent.

Monday’s election saw Liberal leader Mark Carney beat out Conservative rival Pierre Poilievre, who also lost his seat. The Conservatives managed to pick up over 20 new seats, however, and Poilievre has vowed to stay on as party leader, for now.

In Alberta, almost all of the seats save two at press time went to conservatives.

Carney, like former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before him, said he is opposed to new pipeline projects that would allow Alberta oil and gas to be unleashed. Also, his green agenda, like Trudeau’s, is at odds with Alberta’s main economic driver, its oil and gas industry.

The Carney government has also pledged to mandate that all new cars and trucks by 2035 be electric, effectively banning the sale of new gasoline- or diesel-only powered vehicles after that year.

The reduction and eventual elimination of the use of so-called “fossil fuels” and a transition to unreliable “green” energy has also been pushed by the World Economic Forum (WEF) – the globalist group behind the socialist “Great Reset” agenda – an organization in which Trudeau and some of his cabinet are involved.

Smith: ‘I will not permit the status quo to continue’

In her statement, Smith noted that she invited Carney to “immediately commence working with our government to reset the relationship between Ottawa and Alberta with meaningful action rather than hollow rhetoric.”

She noted that a large majority of Albertans are “deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government.”

Smith then promised that she would “not permit the status quo to continue.”

“Albertans are proud Canadians that want this nation to be strong, prosperous, and united, but we will no longer tolerate having our industries threatened and our resources landlocked by Ottawa,” she said.

Smith praised Poilievre for empowering “Albertans and our energy sector as a cornerstone of his campaign.”

Smith was against forced COVID jabs, and her United Conservative government has in recent months banned men from competing in women’s sports and passed a bill banning so-called “top and bottom” surgeries for minors as well as other extreme forms of transgender ideology.

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Alberta

Hours after Liberal election win, Alberta Prosperity Project drumming up interest in referendum

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News release from the Alberta Prosperity Project

Carney’s In. Now what?

You’ve been paying attention. You understand this is really bad. Worse than that, it’s dangerous. The country has somehow chosen several more years of a decade-long Trudeau Travesty…on steroids. Because this new Prime Minister has a three digit IQ, deep and questionable connections and a momentum to accelerate the further dis-integration of a nation we all once proudly belonged to. It’s untrue to say the country is dying. But it’s also not a stretch to say it’s on life support.

The era of Carney Carnage is here. While every province will experience it, there’s no secret he’s placed an extra big bulls-eye on Alberta.

It’s not personal, it’s financial.

His plan includes continuing to limit three of Alberta’s most prosperous sectors: energy, agriculture and, by extension, innovation. To acknowledge this requires we abandon our sense of romanticized national nostalgia. Nostalgia is a trap that prevents us from assessing the reality we exist in.

For instance, GDP is considered the financial heartbeat of a country. Over the past decade of Liberal Leadership, the national GDP has been an abysmal 1.1%. By relatable comparison, Mexico was 4%, the UK was 6%, Australia had 8% growth and the US was a whopping 19%.

That’s great information for an economist, but what does it mean to your pay cheque?

The everyday impact on the average Albertan —say, a teacher or mechanic— of 10 long years of 1% GDP means rent’s up at least 25%, a trip to the grocery store always stings, and driving an older car is the norm because an upgrade is out of reach. Does this sound like your reality?

We aren’t starving, but we’re not thriving, either.

Does this make sense for 4.5 million people living with the third most abundant energy deposits in the world? There’s an absurdity to the situation Albertans find themselves in. It’s akin to being chronically dehydrated while having a fresh water spring in the backyard.

The life you’ve invested for, the future you believed was ahead, isn’t happening.

If Alberta stays on this path.

So what can you, as an Albertan, do about it?

This Fall, we’ll be provided an opportunity. A life raft in the form of a referendum. It requires curiosity, imagination and courage to step into it, but the option will be there — a once in a lifetime shot at prosperity for you and your family: Alberta Sovereignty.

A successful bid means Albertans can finally paddle out of the perilous economic current that’s battered us for ten long years.

Alberta has the resources, talent and spirit of collaboration to create a prosperous future for our families and communities.
If you want your vote to finally mean something, if you feel you deserve more from your pay-cheque, grocery store visits and  need greater control over your family’s future, register your intent to sign YES to sovereignty now.


UPCOMING EVENTS: 

Click here to see all upcoming APP events.


WHAT CAN ALBERTANS DO?

Register Your Intent To Vote “YES”

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