Budget priorities among youth: climate change action, health care expansion and education Between December 2019 and March 2020, Canadian high school students participated in the Student Budget Consultation, an annual initiative coordinated by CIVIX to engage youth in the federal government’s pre-budget consultation process. Participating youth studied the federal government’s revenues and expenditures, analyzed different […]

The new government will be sworn-in today by the Governor General, and the Prime Minister and his cabinet will immediately get back to business. First on the agenda is the Speech from the Throne on December 5, which will outline the goals and priorities for the new session of Parliament. One major test for the […]

HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS ON BUDGET 2019: CONFIDENT ABOUT JOB PROSPECTS, BUT CONCERNED WITH EDUCATION, THE ENVIRONMENT AND POVERTY Canada’s high school students, the next generation of taxpayers, have provided their insight and opinions on the major issues likely to feature in Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s fourth federal budget. Notably, the top issues students believe the […]

Coordinated by CIVIX, the Student Budget Consultation is a unique classroom program that provides students with an opportunity to learn about government and public finance, debate important issues, and have a voice in our democracy. The Student Budget Consultation launches next week, and will act as an important precursor to the 2019 federal election. The conversations […]

High school students on Budget 2018: Confident about job prospects, but concerned with environment, education and income inequality Canada’s high school students, the next generation of taxpayers have provided their insight and opinions on the major issues likely to feature in Finance Minister Bill Morneau’s third federal budget. Some of this year’s notable results include […]

The Student Budget Consultation is a civic-education and financial-literacy program for high-school students across Canada. The process gives young people an opportunity to learn about government and current affairs, debate varying viewpoints about public policy, and offer their own opinions on the priorities of the federal budget. Since November 2017, more than 7,000 young Canadians […]

High school students to Finance Minister Morneau: Reduce debt and increase spending on education and the environment Despite the federal government’s plan to run deficits, two-thirds (66 per cent) of Canadian high school students believe that debt reduction should be a key priority. Students also want to see more investments in environmental protection and post-secondary […]

Last October, the CIVIX team welcomed representatives from the World Bank and the Russian Ministry of Finance. The 16-member delegation was interested in learning more about financial literacy initiatives for students, as well as our Student Budget Consultation program. We were also joined by students, and their teachers, from Sandalwood Heights Secondary School in Brampton, Ontario. […]

How can a country improve its budget openness and transparency? Is it enough to make budget documents publicly available on a website? These questions were at the heart of a budget literacy workshop I attended behalf of CIVIX last week in Warsaw, Poland. The workshop was organized by and the World Bank’s resource team and […]

Despite the decline in oil prices and government revenues, 49% of high schools students believe that the federal government should do everything it can to make sure the budget is balanced this year. For the third year in a row, high school students from across Canada participated in the Student Budget Consultation, a national initiative […]