TORONTO, Nov. 27, 2013 /CNW/ - High school students across Canada have begun to take part in the 2014 Student Budget Consultation.
The Student Budget Consultation is a financial literacy and civic education program that engages students in a study of federal revenues and expenditures and inspires debate on major political issues.
Participating schools are provided with lessons, online videos, PowerPoints and worksheets to facilitate the Student Budget Consultation. The project has four themes:
Learn: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty leads a non-partisan video tutorial outlining the concepts of revenues, expenditures, debt and deficit.
Debate: The Huffington Post's Althia Raj hosts a political panel with Jason Lietaer, Robin MacLachlan and Susan Smith in a debate on major political issues. This year's consultation is focused on Jobs and the Economy, Energy and the Environment, Families and the anticipated Federal Surplus.
Compare: Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, Green leader Elizabeth May and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance Andrew Saxton offer their partisan opinions on budget priorities.
Consult: Students complete a survey conducted by Harris-Decima Interactive with results to be submitted to the Minister of Finance and shared with media and the public in early 2014.
Visit the consultation website to see the entire project: www.civix.ca/sbc/
The inaugural Student Budget Consultation held last year saw nearly 5,000 students participate from across Canada. They ranked "Paying down the debt" as their number one fiscal priority.
More than 260 classes of high school students from all provinces have already registered to take part in the 2014 Student Budget Consultation that will run from now through to December 20th. Schools may still register to participate in this free educational program by contacting CIVIX.
The Student Budget Consultation is a project of CIVIX - Canada's premier civic education organization - and is supported through the generous financial contribution of Interac, and the Youth Take Charge Program of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
About CIVIX Canada
CIVIX is a national charitable organization building the capacity and commitment of young Canadians to participate in their democracy. CIVIX coordinates the highly regarded Student Vote program; a parallel election for students under the voting age that coincides with official election periods. In the last federal election, more than 563,000 elementary and high school students cast a Student Vote ballot on official election candidates.
Video with caption: "Video: Finance Minister Jim Flaherty introduces the Student Budget Consultation program.". Video available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fw9NFuwrBkg
SOURCE: CIVIX
Taylor Gunn
President, CIVIX Canada
1-866-488-8775
[email protected]
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