Here are the answers to our quiz on key news topics from April, plus some additional background information.
1. Which political party won the provincial election in Quebec?
Answer: b
Additional notes: The Liberals took 70 of the 120 seats on a platform of federalism, the economy and the charter of rights.
2. The Canadian lobster industry has agreed to add a two cent levy to every pound of lobster landed. The money will be used to:
Answer: c
Additional notes: One cent of the levy will be paid by the harvester and one cent by the processor. This will yield about $2.5 million to pay for marketing Canadian lobster in Europe, Asia and the USA.
3. The Fair Elections Act is proposing to modify vouching as a method of allowing some people to vote. What is vouching?
Answer: a
Additional notes: The government claims that there is too much risk of fraud and other errors from vouching. Instead it is trying to amend the Fair Elections Act to require one of 39 acceptable pieces of personal identification.
4. The prestigious Gairdner Awards give $100,000 each to a number of recipients each year. The recipients are chosen from what field?
Answer: c
Additional notes: The Gairdner awards are given to researchers who have made breakthroughs in research. Many of the recipients go on to win Nobel prizes.
5. What is OPEC?
Answer: a
Additional notes: OPEC stands for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is a cartel made up of 12 members, mostly in the Middle East.
6. In an effort to make rail transportation of hazardous goods safer, the federal government is implementing the following safety rule:
Answer: d
Additional notes: These steps are being taken as a result of the Lac Mégantic train explosion in 2013 when 47 people were killed.
7. What Canadian hockey team advanced to round two of the Stanley Cup playoffs?
Answer: b
Additional notes: The Montreal Canadiens beat Tampa Bay to advance to the next round.
8. Canada’s median income has:
Answer: b
Additional notes: For the first time Canada’s median income has surpassed that of the United States
9. What is an LMO (Labour Market Opinion)?
Answer: a
Additional notes: The foreign worker program has grown significantly between 2006, when 4,350 foreign workers were in Canada, and 2014, with 44,740 foreign workers in Canada.
10. What mammal has been downgraded on Canada’s list of species at risk?
Answer: c
Additional notes: The population of humpback whale in the North Pacific has grown from a low of about 1,400 in 1966 when the commercial harvest was stopped to about 20,000 today.
11. What Canadian company is showing leadership in Bangladesh after the tragedy in a garment factory last year?
Answer: c
Additional notes: Loblaw executive chairman Galen Weston has taken the lead in acknowledging their role at the site of the tragedy and has offered compensation to victims and their families, as well as sending its own people to be on the ground in Bangladesh to ensure that building structures are safe.
12. Interest rates in Canada are expected to stay low for the foreseeable future because:
Answer: d
Additional notes: The governor of the Bank of Canada, Stephen Poloz, predicts that inflation will remain below forecasts, so interest rates will stay low a little longer. He refers to the economic recovery as ‘hot and not’, meaning some sectors are doing well, while others remain sluggish.
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