Food Bank Usage on the Rise

The food bank usage in all of Canada is increasing alot. The main factor of why people are using the food banks more is that people don't have enough substantial income for a job due to the recession, many people that use the food banks have part time low paying jobs, they use that money to buy necessities for their families and they use the food bank to cover food costs. A survey done shows that there are over 867, 948 people that use food banks as of March 2010, of this population 9.2 percent used a food bank for the very first time, there are many children under the age of 18 that use food banks, half of the families that use the food banks have children, and 17 percent have employment income. Food banks are becoming increasingly popular for many families to keep them afloat in the economy today it is due to the lack of economic stability that Canada has been witnessing over the past couple of years.





I believe that when the economy gets strong again and people are getting re-employed the usage and demand for the food bank will decrease. The usage of the food bank is highly dependent on peoples income if they have a lower income they will use the food bank to support their families for food so they can spend money on other necessities like their house or mortgage. I believe that having the food bank available for easy access is important, it is important for people to be fed and it is amazing how we have the power to keep people fed as a community. As stated in my earlier blogs the amount of mortgages taken are drastically showing due to the economy, it shows how people are paying off mortgages and are not having enough money for food therefore they are using the supplied food banks to supply. For the reasons stated I feel that food banks and the rise of their usage is a good thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2010/11/16/food-bank-survey016.html

Mortgage Debt Drops to $1 Trillion

In Canada, people are holding over $1 trillion dollars worth of mortgage debt. This is a drastic increase and the first time the total debt has passed this level, this is a 7.6% increase over the past year. Although the total amount of mortgage debt is extremely high, it is said that the mortgages themselves are rather low and are managing well. The average amount of a mortgages taken are around $146,000, which often is 50% of their home value. In Canada the average price for a new home is roughly $300,000. More people are making smarter decisions and paying off their mortgages with monthly payments and very few people are coming in with late or no payments.

I believe that to have debt this high is unbelievable its amazing how much money people put in to mortgages. I believe that there should be a tighter criteria on mortgages because if this debt keeps up it is going to drive the Canadian economy into the ground. On the other hand it is great that many of the people who are getting mortgages on their houses are paying them back, the bad thing is the fact that there is so much money being payed out via mortgages. Although the debt is so high the payback is coming steadily. To conclude I believe that it is important to let people have an equal chance at buying a house and the mortgage system allows that, for that reason i believe that being $1 trillion dollars in debt is OK.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/11/08/mortgage-debt-2010.html

Yemen Bomb 17 Minutes from Exploding

On November 4th two Yemen bombs were intercepted from transit, one was intercepted in England and the other in Dubai. The bombs were on route to USA they were being sent via air freight. The bomb was detected and defused 17 minutes before it would detonate. Upon finding the bomb investigators focused on the Yemen based Al-Queda in the Arabian Peninsula. The bomb was found do to a tip from the Saudi authorities and were pulled off the US bound cargo ship. The explosives were extremely difficult to identify they are called PETN, they are held inside a printer cartridge, inside of a much bigger box. The bombs contained anywhere from 300-400g of PETN this much of PETN is big enough to cause a large explosion. The bombs were wired via phones and the phones were used as timers and were set to go off at certain times. The bombs that were intercepted were allegedly linked to the man who attempted last years December 25th failed attack on a US airliner.


I believe that the fact that the bombs were intercepted and defused so no civilian casualties happened was amazing. On the other hand i feel that it is unacceptable for the senders of these bombs to get away with it. I believe that bombs like these should never ever even enter an airport or enter a plane in the first place, extra security precautions should be taken, there should be and is a zero tolerance for any kinds of weapons, searches should be mandatory and
x-rays should be viewed more carefully. I also think that with this bomb threat there should be searches for the man or the men that planted the bomb in the first place. There should be a major investigation involving many more men and much more technology should be used to track this man or men. I believe that if we have the technology to find a bomb on a plane, and defuse it before it explodes there is a chance that we could and should find there people.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11692942

Woman Accused of Faking Cancer Back in court

In Burlington Ontario a woman by the name of Ashley Kirilow, faked cancer to try to claim money. She shaved her eyebrows and shaved her hair to make it look like she was going through chemotherapy. She went to significant lengths to make people believe that she had cancer, she hosted events to raise money for a non-existent cancer charity. Kirilow is is facing six counts of fraud under $5000 and one over $5000.

I believe that doing something like this is completely and totally wrong. Not only did she steal from people who probably have friends or family that suffer from cancer but she took money for her own selfish reasons. I believe that doing this will also give people a very low sense of security when donating to a charity, this will stop people from donating to charity freely, people will want to do their research and it will take more time to donate. I feel that this person should have to return all the "donations" she received and give them back to the donor's. If she cant put together the money I believe that she should be sent to jail or be fined for the damage that she has done to many people.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Canada/20101102/kirilow-court-101102/

Hyundai Making More Fuel Efficent Cars

Over the years Hyundai has become one of the biggest and most powerful Asain car companies on the planet. Since Hyundai's start they have been trying to improve and make their cars more fuel efficient. This year Hyundai's Sonata (2011) has preliminary fuel data of 6.7L per 100 highway kilometers. Hyundai is striving within the next 15 years to have their cars at an average fuel economy of 4.7 L per 100 highway kilometers. With many of the impressive fuel economy ratings Hyundai has become ranked 2nd in the world for most fuel efficient and greenest cars on the road, tied with Toyota. Hyundai is making drastic changes to their vehicle which will enhance the fuel economy of the vehicle, they are installing technologies such as twin scroll turbochargers, gasoline direct injection, electric power steering, and improved transmissions with 6 speed. Although the prices for installing the new parts is alot Hyundai is becoming more cost effective by manufacturing and ordering the parts in high volumes. The government agencies announced that they will be developing tougher greenhouse gas and fuel economy standards for passenger cars on the road. Meaning that Hyundai is on the road to making the Earth a greener place.

I think that this is great. Too many car companies today are not cutting down on their fuel emission standards. Hyundai is leading the way in innovation for better fuel economy and lower emission standards. I believe that more car companies should go "green" many companies are changing and becoming greener but there is not enough companies still have cars with brutal fuel economy. I think that in the near future car companies will be forced to change with the time whether or not the companies agrees or not, for many reasons I believe this because people will no longer be able or willing to pay 120 dollars at the pump for gas, they will want better cars that have better fuel economy and lower prices at the pump. The future of the world is in the peoples hands. Global warming is coming and if people start cutting waste and reducing pollution there is a chance that it can stop. I believe that Hyundai is doing its part and stepping up to the plate to make a greener world.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Autos/20101022/hyundai-high-mileage-101023/

Toyota Recalls 1.5 Million Cars

Today the Toyota Motor Corporation said it will be recalling 1.53 million cars today. These cars include lexus, avalon, and many other models. The reason for the recall is that there are problems with the fuel pump and there is also problems with the brake fluid. Within one year Toyota has recalled over 10 million cars for many different reasons, these recalls have made people question the quality reputation that Toyota has built for all these years. The main spokes person for Toyota says that the problems with the brake fluid could lead to weaker breaking power. Although the problems have been noted there have been no accidents caused by these problems yet.

I believe that problems and recalls like this shouldn't be happening. Toyota has a reputation to protect they have good quality products. The manufacturers should be double and triple checking all the cars for maintenance issues. Malfunctions in a car could cause near death or deadly consequences. If a car is not up to standard it should be up the to manufacturer to make sure that the product is built correctly. The problem with recalls is that people don't have the time to go out and waste their time on a car that they purchased because Toyota made a problem. Another problem with recalls is that many of the companies have no idea what order or who's car to replace or fix first, cost is also another issue preventing people from sending their car in for a recall because often they have to pay for a rental car or pay for a taxi to get around to places that they need to get around to. For these reasons i believe that recalls; especially for automotive companies should be prevented.

http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2010/10/21/toyota-recall-brake-fuel.html

Charges Dropped for G20 Protesters

Today many of the charges for the G20 protesters were dropped. Many people were very satisfied with the decision to drop the charges. People felt that the police used too much force to keep the protest under control. Apparently innocent people were hit and brought to jail. The reason the charges were dropped were because the crown did not have enough evidence to support the charges. There were 90 charges dropped today. The charges that were dropped were for people that were inside the University of Toronto and were in the graduate studies building, the police raided the building and arrested 90 people for conspiracy to commit a criminal act. Many people feel that the arrests that were made were made with insufficient evidence to even convict the people.

I believe that the charges should not have been dropped. The protesters in the G20 summit caused endless amounts of damage, windows were smashed, police cars were totaled and many other damages were reported. I believe that if you cause damage to other peoples property you should be charged, it wasn't one person who did all the damage but there were many others, and just because many people did it, it doesn't mean that they are all not guilty. I think that the charges should be put through or at the least the people charged should have to pay back what was broken. The reason the police used great amounts of force was because people were attacking and would have caused harm to innocent bystanders in the streets. For these reasons I believe that the charges should be put through not dropped.

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/TopStories/20101015/g20-charges-101015/