It's mid-morning on a weekday, and 11-year-old Nina Zhang has her athletic wear on, her hair pulled into a ponytail and her secret weapon in tow -- a one-handed backhand of steel.
We are Canada. At 144 years we are neither young nor old, as nations go. And nations do come and do go, it bears remembering. You don’t have to be very old to appreciate that the world map that occupied a corner of your childhood classroom is a relic of another age; that borders once drawn in blood aren’t indelible at all, they are just lines to be moved, or bent or erased by popular will. Yet, here we are, still in this together, and doing rather well.
Education is vital to a successful career in any field. For many, choosing the right school makes all the difference in terms of educational gains and future employment. Thankfully, Canada offers an array of quality institutions to suit a variety of students. From culinary schools to full universities, Canada has some of the best offerings in the world.
What makes a city or town a great place to live? Can a community’s “livability” be measured? MoneySense believes that, to a certain extent, it can. Canada’s Best Places to Live 2011 is based on data compiled from 180 Canadian cities and towns with populations over 10,000 people. Cities were rated based on home affordability, climate, prosperity, crime rates, access to health care and lifestyle, with subcategories in each area.
Let’s not sugarcoat it—it’s been a bad, bad year. Plunging markets have siphoned an estimated $300 billion out of the pensions and retirement savings of Canadians. A huge wave of job losses—400,000 and counting—has pushed the unemployment rate to an 11-year high. Add in the billions spent on corporate bailouts, and the $100 billion-plus in projected federal and provincial deficits predicted for the coming years, and the economic gloom can seem overwhelming.
