Tag: Canada

News Politics

Kathleen Wynne Ontario’s Next Premier

Ontario’s next premier is Kathleen Wynne.

She won the leadership of the Ontario Liberal Party.

Since the Liberals are in power in the province, she will automatically become the premier as well.

Wynne’s closest competitor for the job was Sandra Pupatello.

The Liberals held a “leadership convention” to choose a new leader after Dalton McGuinty stepped down as leader and Ontario premier last October.

The convention was held on the weekend; Wynne was voted in on Saturday.

Liberal party members voted in Toronto, in three votes or “ballots.” Wynne won in the third ballot with 1,150 votes over Pupatello, who had 866 votes.

Arts News

Cirque Du Soleil Lays Off 400 Employees

Some of Cirque du Soleil’s performers will soon have their feet on the ground.

That’s because the fantastical circus company is laying off 400 employees.

Cirque employs about 5,000 people around the world, doing more than 100 types of jobs including performing.

Most of the lay-offs will be at the organization’s Montreal headquarters, according to an article in the Globe and Mail.

Cirque du Soleil is a famous Canadian performing troupe. According to Wikipedia, they describe themselves as “a dramatic mix of circus arts and street entertainment.”

They were founded by two former street performers, Guy Laliberte and Gilles Ste-Croix, about 30 years ago.

Environment News Science

Scientists Criticize Iron-Dumping Experiment

Scientists around the world have criticized a group of Canadians for dumping more than 100 tonnes of iron dust into the Pacific Ocean last summer.

The group, called the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation, is supported by the village of Old Massett, British Columbia.

About 700 people live in the village, which is located on the Haida Gwaii islands.

They used to make their living by fishing for salmon, but now there are not enough salmon and 70 per cent of the villagers don’t have jobs.

Last July, the Haida Salmon Restoration Corporation paid $2.5 million to an American businessman named Russ George to dump a mixture of iron sulphate and iron oxide dust into the ocean about 370 kilometres west of the islands.

They hoped the iron would cause more plankton to grow in that part of the Pacific.

They believed that more plankton would help increase the number of salmon in the area.

News Sports

NHL Season (Finally!) Begins This Saturday

The National Hockey League season is finally beginning.

After 113 days, the dispute between the owners and the players is over.

Fans have been without hockey since Sept. 15; that’s when the NHL season was supposed to have started.

After months of negotiations, players voted in favour of a new “collective agreement” to end the lockout.

Then to officially end the lockout, representatives for both the owners and players signed a document saying they agree to the proposal.

The 30 hockey teams that make up the NHL started training camps on Jan. 13.

There are seven Canadian teams in the NHL: the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Montreal Canadiens, the Calgary Flames, the Edmonton Oilers, the Winnipeg Jets, the Ottawa Senators and the Vancouver Canucks.

Training camp is a time for teams to put together their roster.

It also gives teams a chance to prepare for the upcoming season in hopes of winning the Stanley Cup.

This camp will be shorter than usual as there is a rush to get the season started. As a result there will be no pre-season games.

News

Head Of Canada’s Largest School Board Resigns Over Plagiarism

Last week, thousands of children in Toronto learned an important lesson about the seriousness of plagiarism, from the head of the largest school board in Canada.

Plagiarism is when you copy someone else’s work and claim the ideas or writing as your own.

When you use someone else’s writing in a school report, for instance, you must let the reader know where the passage came from.

That’s known as “citing the source” or “giving attribution.”

Lighter Technology

It’s Fun To Work (And Play) At Google

Everyone wants to work somewhere that’s interesting and fun.

The people at Google have taken that concept to an extreme.

Their new Canadian headquarters in Toronto, Ont. have some features that make everyone want to come to work.

Google is the Internet’s most popular search engine (the software program that helps you find websites you’re looking for).

The company also makes many other software products such as Google Maps and Google Chrome.

Google also owns many Internet companies including YouTube and Blogger.

News Science

Canadian Astronaut To Take Charge Of Space Station

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield will soon become the first Canadian to command the International Space Station.

Hadfield and two other astronauts – Tom Mashburn from the United States and Roman Romanenko from Russia – docked at the ISS on Dec. 21, 2012.

Their Soyuz spacecraft was launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Dec. 19.

It took them two days to reach the space station.

The space station is a satellite which orbits the Earth. The size of the crew varies from three to six astronauts at a time.

The crews stay on the space station for up to six months and then are replaced by other astronauts.

Hadfield and his crew will stay for five months.

This mission is Hadfield’s third trip into space and his second visit to the space station.

When he takes over command of the ISS in March, he will become the first Canadian ever to command a spacecraft.

Hadfield can already claim several “firsts” in space.

In 1995, Hadfield was the first Canadian to serve as “mission specialist” on a space shuttle.

He was also the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm while in orbit, and the first Canadian to board the Russian space station, Mir.

News

“Idle No More” A Growing Movement

For nearly a month Theresa Spence, Chief of the community of Attawapiskat, has been protesting the way First Nations people are treated in northern Ontario.

Spence has not eaten any solid food for about 30 days. This type of protest is called a “hunger strike.”

During a hunger strike, people stop eating in order to make a peaceful protest about something they believe in. Spence is consuming only liquids, like water and broth.

Spence said she will not end her hunger strike until Prime Minister Stephen Harper meets with her to discuss First Nations rights.

Last week, Harper said he will meet with First Nations leaders on Jan. 11.

Painting by Canadian artist Rocky Green, Redneck Arts.
Arts

Happy Holidays, From Your Team At TKN

Happy holidays!

Thank you for reading Teaching Kids News and using it in your home or classroom.

During the winter break, please enjoy our archives. There are more than 400 great articles on lots of topics.

Type a key word into our Search box or click on a topic in the “tag cloud” on our home page.

There are lots of articles kids will enjoy in categories like sports, animals, science, space, England, United States, Canada and yes, even politics.

Please also look at our new “In-Class Ideas” section (tab in the upper menu on the home page). There are some terrific ideas for in-class and homeschooling work based on articles from TKN. These are projects that other classes have done successfully with their students. Fun!

Have a great holiday season, and we’ll see you in the new year.

This beautiful, snowy image is by Canadian artist Rocky Green. (Copyright Rocky L. Green.)

Sports

Christine Sinclair Is Canada’s Outstanding Athlete For 2012

Women’s soccer superstar Christine Sinclair has won the 2012 Lou Marsh Award.

The award is given out each year to Canada’s outstanding athlete. She is the first soccer player to win the award.

Sinclair, 29, is from Burnaby, British Columbia; she is captain of Canada’s women’s soccer team.

She led Canada to a bronze medal at the 2012 London Olympics.

She played a spectacular tournament, scoring an Olympic-record-setting six goals.