I am Maya. Welcome to our final video! Have you ever stood in a grocery aisle looking at two boxes of the same cereal—one big and one small—and wondered which one is actually the better deal? Sometimes the bigger box is cheaper, but sometimes it’s a trick! Today, we are learning the secret of Unit Rates. This is the ultimate tool for consumer awareness. It helps you find the “Better Buy” every single time, ensuring you get the most value for your money!I am Chloe. I love the math of unit rates! Whether it is dollars per litre, cents per gram, or even dollars per hour for a job, unit rates let you compare things that are different sizes. It’s like bringing everything down to a “fair fight” so you can see the true price. Once you learn this, you’ll never look at a price tag the same way again. It is a superpower for your wallet!I am Liam. But money isn’t just about what we buy for ourselves. We also need to look at the bigger picture: our community. Have you ever wondered who pays for the playground at your park, the books in your school, or the fire truck that keeps us safe? That money comes from Taxes. We’re going to explore how our money supports the three levels of government in Canada and how that revenue helps everyone live a better life.And I am Noah. I’ll be breaking down the different types of taxes, from property taxes to income tax. We’ll look at Municipal, Provincial, and Federal governments and see how they each have a special job to do. Contributing to our community through taxes is how we all work together as a team! Let’s start with our shopping detective work and find that better buy!A unit rate is the cost for one single unit of something. Let’s look at two jugs of juice. The small one is two litres and costs two dollars. To find the unit rate, we divide:
$$2.00 / 2 = 1.00$$
. So, the unit rate is one dollar per litre. Now, look at the big four-litre jug. It costs three dollars and forty cents. Let’s divide again:
$$3.40 / 4 = 0.85$$
. The unit rate for the big jug is eighty-five cents per litre. Since eighty-five cents is less than a dollar, the large jug is the “Better Buy!” You can use this for anything: finding out if twenty-four dollars per hour is a good wage, or if five dollars per gigabyte for phone data is a fair price. Most grocery stores in Canada actually print the unit rate in tiny letters on the shelf tag. Look for it next time you’re shopping—it’s a major pro tip for saving money!Now, let’s look at where some of our money goes after we pay at the register. When you buy that juice, or when adults earn a paycheck, a portion goes to the government as taxes. In Canada, we have three main levels of government that collect taxes to provide services. First, there is the Municipal Government—that’s your local city or town. They collect property taxes from people who own homes and businesses, and even things like pet licenses. This money stays right in your neighborhood! It pays for garbage collection, recycling, fire services, local parks, and animal control. If you love your local playground, you can thank municipal taxes for that!Next is the Provincial Government. They collect sales tax—like the HST we talked about—and provincial income tax. This level of government handles the big things that keep our society running, like education and health care. Your school, the teachers, and the hospitals where doctors help people are all supported by provincial taxes. They also look after provincial highways and environmental protection. Finally, we have the Federal Government in Ottawa. They collect federal income tax to pay for things that affect the whole country, like national defense, public safety, and the postal service. They also help fund big projects like national parks and help out provinces that might be struggling. All three levels work together to ensure we have a high “Standard of Living.”Think of tax revenue as a giant community pool of money. We all put a little bit in so that we can all have great things that would be too expensive for one person to buy alone. Imagine if every family had to build their own road or buy their own fire truck—it would be impossible! By contributing through taxes, we make sure that everyone has access to schools, hospitals, and clean parks. It is a form of teamwork that makes Canada a great place to live. As a smart citizen, understanding where your tax dollars go helps you see the connection between your money and your community. A major tip is to look around your neighborhood today and try to spot five things that were paid for by tax revenue. You’ll see the results of our collective effort everywhere!We are so proud of everything you have learned in this series! You now know how money moves, how to calculate tax and totals, how to build a budget blueprint, the truth about credit and debt, and how to find the better buy while supporting your community. These are real-world skills that will help you every single day. Keep asking questions, keep comparing prices, and always remember that you have the power to make smart financial decisions. Whether you are saving for a toy or helping plan a community event, you are now a financial literacy leader! Use your unit rate skills to solve the shopping problems in your lesson today, and we’ll see you out there in the world, making great choices! Bye for now!
