Tag: Canada

Health News

Cannabis (Pot) Now Legal In Canada

On October 17, the Cannabis Act came into force and cannabis became legal for adults in Canada. The recreational drug, also known as marijuana or pot, is often smoked like a cigarette.

It is still illegal to buy or use pot in the United States (except in rare cases such as for medicinal use).

Children may not legally buy or smoke pot; it is not healthy for bodies and brains that are still growing. It is also illegal for anyone under 18 years old to purchase cigarettes.

“Protecting the health and safety of youth is a top priority,” a Government of Canada website states. It notes that there are “serious criminal penalties for those who sell or provide cannabis to youth.”

Only adults, 19 years of age or older, may legally smoke pot. They can also legally buy it and grow marijuana (for their own use, not to sell).

News

What You Need To Know About NAFTA and USMCA

A big agreement was just made between the United States, Canada and Mexico.
It’s complicated–too complicated to explain fully here–but it’s good to have an idea about what it is and why it is important.
Back in 1994, the US, Canada and Mexico made a deal to all become “trading partners.” That means, each country would partner with the others to make it easy to buy and sell things and services back and forth. That deal was called NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement.
When countries don’t have a deal like that, it’s sometimes hard for one country to sell things to another country.

News Politics

Premier Doug Ford Uses “Notwithstanding Clause”

In June, the province of Ontario got a new premier: Doug Ford. His political party won the election in a landslide and has a “majority government.” That means the party Ford leads has more votes than all of the other political parties put together, and it gives them a lot of power to get things done.

Recently, Ford and his party used that power in a way that has upset some people.

It all began when Ford announced that he was going to reduce the number of city councillors in Toronto from 47 to 25. Toronto is one of the largest cities in Ontario.
Ford says having fewer councillors will make the city run better.

But people who don’t agree with Ford say he is only doing it because he doesn’t like some of the Toronto councillors. They say it’s not a business move–it’s personal.

News Sports

Canada, Mexico, US To Co-Host 2026 World Cup (Men’s Soccer)

The FIFA World Cup, the biggest event in men’s soccer–perhaps in sports, period–will be co-hosted jointly in 2026 by Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Each of the three countries will host some of the games. One proposal is for Canada and Mexico to each host 10 games, and for the United States to host 60 games.
Canada hosted the women’s world cup in 2015, one of only four countries to host both events.

News Politics

Lots Of Political Drama At G7

A lot happened at the G7 summit this year.

The G7 (the G stands for “group”) is made up of seven of the world’s wealthiest countries: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The leaders of these countries, plus representatives for the European Union, get together every year. That meeting is called a summit. Every summit is held at a different G7 country; this year, it was held in Quebec, Canada.

At the summit, the leaders talk about issues that affect them all. This year, Canada’s Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, said he wanted to discuss: strengthening the middle class, supporting women’s equality and ensuring that more girls can access education, dealing with global warming and promoting respect for diversity.

Some very good things happened at the G7 summit this year. For instance, the leaders agreed to give nearly $3 billion to help women and girls access education. That pledge received praise from many people, including activist Malala Yousafzai, who said, the money will “give more girls hope.”

News Politics

Ontario Premier Says She Can’t Win Election

The current premier of Ontario says there will be a new premier after the election on June 7 and it most certainly won’t be her.
That was a very surprising announcement.
Premier Kathleen Wynne leads the Ontario Liberal Party. She is one of three main candidates vying for the spot of premier in the upcoming election. The other two main candidates are Doug Ford Jr., who leads the Progressive Conservative (PC) party of Ontario and Andrea Horwath, who leads the Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP).

News

Harry, Meghan Get Married

No longer is she simply Meghan Markle, an actress and activist. Now, she will be known as the Duchess of Sussex.
Last Saturday, Markle married a prince–Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, grandson of Queen Elizabeth and brother of Prince William.
In front of a crowd of about 600 people in St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle–and tens of thousands more who stood outside in the streets of London and millions around the world who watched on TV–England’s Prince Harry married US-born Meghan Markle.

News

Canada to Lead Trade Missions for Women, LGBTQI, Indigenous Businesses

The Canadian government is going to help businesses owned by women, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTQI people (LGBTQI means lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning and intersex people).
The government will create “trade missions” to support their businesses.
A trade mission is when one country — in this case Canada — travels to another country in order to talk about increasing the amount of business between the two countries.
Typically, business owners and government officials go to another country, and meet with business owners and government officials there. They discuss ways the countries can work together.

Health

How Much Food Do You Waste?

If all the food that’s thrown away in three American cities could be saved, it would provide 68 million meals for people who don’t have enough to eat, according to a recent study.

A team of researchers in the United States spent a week looking through the garbage bags of 1,151 people living in Denver, New York and Nashville. The researchers wanted to know what kind of food was being thrown away, how much there was, and why it was being tossed.

By asking these questions, the researchers hoped to find ways to reduce the amount of food we throw away, and to give some of that food to people who need it.

The researchers found that, in the cities they surveyed, more than a kilogram of edible food per person is wasted each week. (Edible food is food you can eat. It doesn’t include things like apple cores, egg shells, or bones from meat.)

Fruits and vegetables were the most common edible foods found in the trash, followed by food leftover from meals. Eggs, bread and milk were also commonly thrown out.

Kids News

“Adventure” Playgrounds Can Build Confidence

At a place called The Land, in Wrexham, Wales, the ground is littered with pieces of wood, old tires, packing crates, and shopping carts. It looks like a junkyard, but it isn’t. It’s a playground.
There’s also a fire pit, hammers and saws, and a rope swing across a creek. Some of the equipment can be dangerous, but the people who run the playground believe that letting children take some risks is good for them.
The Land was created by Claire Griffiths, who has two children of her own. She wanted to build a space where children could play the way they wanted and experiment with different things, without a lot of rules.