Moving to Action

Mar 1, 2015 by pamela

• The federal government could issue a higher carbon tax per province and also make it mandatory for every company in Canada to take part in carbon trading.

Carbon tax: The Government could implement stages that state the amount of money one is supposed to pay once they have reached that set level. Every stage above the legal regulated amount, there would be a tax that increases the higher you went over the regulated amount. .

Carbon trading ( cap-and-trade-schemes): This would be a mandatory preventative measure that every company would have to partake in within Canada. Cap-and-trade-schemes are basically where the governing body sets a "cap" on allowed emissions. Then, the governing body distributes allowed "emission allowances" that total the cap. If a company doesn't have enough allowance to cover their emission spendings, they can either buy some from another firm that has spare credits, or they can make reductions on their emissions. Although this is a valid way of reducing GHG emissions,its voluntary. What we are proposing is to make it mandatory for every company in Canada to participate.

Rights:

Our country

"the right to a political voice"

• The government should issue a bill that lets teenager over the age of 12 vote. A test could be made that requires anyone who wants the right to vote to score a 95% or higher. As you get older, the percentage for voting would decrease slightly, and stay the same after the participant has reached 18 years of age. Most of the time the reason teenagers aren't getting involved in their community is because they don’t believe there opinions to be valid. Giving them a political voice would encourage them to participate in other community activities, and make them better global citizens. After a young person has proven that they know what they are voting for, they should have the right to a political voice like any other adult would. By this I do not mean having representatives for the whole where they can be ignored after the tide has cooled. I mean giving teenagers that ave proven themselves to be worthy the exact same right to vote for their representative as adults have. 

Responsibilities:

Our school

"To be engaged in the community through involvement in local initiatives, social programs, etc."

• Schools all across Canada should make it mandatory for every student to have a specific amount of community service hours to graduate. Every class would be required to offer the students 15 hours within the year to further encourage them to get involved ( this time would be given to the students as the Teachers see fit).
• A club should be started that allows students to begin their own awareness campaigns. These campaigns could be about anything ( gender equality, poverty awareness, LGBT rights, etc). Students would be given opportunities to speak with experts in those topics, interact with other people from other countries and etc. Finally after months of research and planning, every student would have to present their campaign.

Responsibilities

Our country:

"To be engaged in the community through involvement in local initiatives, social programs, elections, etc."

"Aid in the development of one's nation while avoiding the impairment of another"

• Each province in Canada can create a youth council that consists of about 50 youths of varying ages. Every 3-5 years the youth council would meet up with 10 selected government representatives. These meetings would be centred around various issues that the teens would have collected and tallied from their school and their peers. The youth want to feel heard, and that they are making a valid contribution to society. It is often difficult to reach them because they feel as if it won't matter anyway because the issues don't directly affect them. These meeting would really help to bridge that gap of mistrust, and hopefully close the passive aggressive floodgates. 

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