Readable, teachable news.
Thursday, May 2, 2024
In September, Daniels Spectrum opened its doors.
Daniels Spectrum is a wonderful new 60,000-square-foot facility set up to help people learn art and business, including music and painting classes and moviemaking.
It even includes a Centre for Social Innovation where people with ideas for new businesses work with creative people to think up new ways to make communities better.
It is all part of the rebirth of Toronto’s Regent Park neighbourhood that has been taking place for more than 10 years.
The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) wants the government to put higher taxes on junk food.
Doctors say that higher costs would make it harder for children to buy junk food.
They also want high fat and sugary foods that have little nutritional value, to have more information and even warnings on the packaging.
And they want less junk food advertising, especially targeting children.
These are just three strong actions doctors say will help children eat less junk food, keep their weight at a healthy level and live a longer life.
The Ontario Medical Association said that over the years strong actions like extra taxes and scary pictures on cigarette packages have helped to reduce smoking from 50 per cent, in the 1960s, to as low as 20 per cent in Canada today.
Doctors say this kind of action can help in the same way with junk food.
The world cup of soccer is set to take place in June, 2014 – without Canada.
The World Cup of Soccer happens every four years.
It’s one of the most watched sporting events in the world. The next World Cup will be in Brazil, in South America.
The World Cup offers 32 teams the chance to compete in the World Cup Finals for the glory of being the best soccer nation.
Lincoln Alexander was the lieutenant-governor of Ontario from 1985 to 1991.
He was the first black person to hold that post in the country’s history. He was also Canada’s first black Member of Parliament.
Lincoln Alexander died on Oct. 19, at the age of 90. He was given a state funeral, which is a high honour.
Alexander died in Hamilton, Ont., where he had lived for many years.
Throughout his career, Alexander supported youth leadership and he fought racism.
Alexander, born in 1922, was the child of a railway porter and a maid who came separately to Canada from the Caribbean to find a better life.
Their son, Lincoln, became one of Canada’s most inspiring leaders.
His firsts were many. He was the first black person elected to Canada’s House of Commons and the first black person to be named a lieutenant-governor.
He was the first black partner in a Canadian law firm and first black Minister in the Federal Government.
Picture this. You’re on a plane, flying from Vancouver, B.C. to Sydney, Australia.
You’re flying over the Pacific Ocean. For the last 12 hours, your flight has been perfectly uneventful.
And then suddenly the captain’s voice comes over the plane’s speakers.
There is a boat in distress, the captain explains. And the plane is going to change course in order to help look for it.
That’s exactly what happened to 270 passengers on board Air Canada flight AC033 last Monday.
The captain was told there was a “vessel in distress” somewhere in the Tasman Sea, which is between Australia and New Zealand.
A yacht with one person aboard had left Sydney, Australia, about two weeks earlier. It had lost its mast, was very low on fuel and had been drifting.
Last March a fire all but destroyed a very special playground in Toronto.
The city’s High Park children’s castle had been lovingly built by volunteers. Its destruction resulted in an overwhelming community response–including a day-long community celebration.
Celebrity contractor, Mike Holmes, stepped in with his crew to offer to lead the rebuild–an elaborate new playground structure.
Holmes filmed the rebuild for his television show, Holmes Makes It Right. It’s scheduled to air later this month.
The description for that episode reads:
When a beloved castle playground in Toronto’s High Park is damaged by fire, “Mike Holmes is fuming.
“He leads a legion of crewmembers, engineers, architects and firefighters into battle against extreme heat and construction challenges, all while the clock is ticking.
“With help from the community, Mike and his team overcome major setbacks to rebuild a brand new castle that’s fit for any King or Queen, teaching kids that they can rise above any obstacle and build their own kingdoms.”
On Monday night, the Premier of Ontario did something surprising. He quit his job.
It was shocking, because most people didn’t see it coming.
Dalton McGuinty has been the Premier for nine years.
He is also the leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, a position he has held for 16 years.
At the same time as he resigned, he also “prorogued” the legislature. That means he stopped all business taking place in the Ontario House of Commons.
Most of the work MPPs were working on has been cancelled until a new session is called.
No one knows exactly why McGuinty quit, and so suddenly.
Some people say he intends to run for leader of the federal Liberal party—in other words, take over the national Liberals so he can run for Prime Minister in the future.
Other people say he quit because his provincial government is in the middle of many difficulties including contract negotiations with some unions.
When you’re sick, you go to the doctor.
She may give you a prescription for some medicine—for example, eye drops.
If you live in Ontario, you’d then go to a drug store and give that prescription to the pharmacist, who would “fill your prescription” – in other words, make up the eye drops and sell them to you.
As it is now, if you run out of your prescription eye drops and need more you would likely have to go back to your doctor to get another prescription.
This week the Ontario government announced a new plan that gives the pharmacist an expanded role in healthcare.
The Pan American Games are coming to Toronto, Ontario in 2015.
The Games are like the Olympics, but only athletes from North, South and Central America and the Caribbean compete.
It is different from the Olympics because it celebrates culture as well as sports. And that’s where the pianos come in.
The Games don’t start for another three years, but last July a Pan Am project called Play Me, I’m Yours, put 41 painted pianos around Toronto.
The pianos stood for the 41 countries and protectorates belonging to the Pan American Sports Organization. (Protectorates are countries that have their own government but also get protection from stronger countries.)
Each piano was decorated by an artist who lives in Canada but was born in one of the 41 countries.
The pianos were placed in public parks, streets and squares.
Play Me, I’m Yours invited everybody to play. It didn’t matter if you were piano teacher or could only play Chopsticks.
The Bank of Canada recently unveiled the country’s new $20 bill.
The bills, like the recently updated $100s and $50s, are made of a polymer (a type of flexible plastic) instead of paper.
The new bills have a transparent “window” in them.
The new $20 bills are more environmentally friendly than the old bills, because they are more durable so they won’t have to be replaced as often. The government says they last 2.5 times longer than paper bills.
