Montréal – More than 17,000 Canadian youth worked to get “financially fit” by participating in the Canadian Securities Administrators’ (CSA) annual “Financial Fitness Challenge”.

From February 15 to April 15, 2010, the CSA challenged Canadian youth aged 15 to 21 to test their knowledge of personal finance concepts including saving and investing at www.financialfitnesschallenge.ca. Over 39,000 visitors explored the website’s educational resources, used interactive tools, and participated in online discussions. In total 17,305 youth registered on the site to take the Challenge and competed for provincial and national prizes. 

“As securities regulators, we believe it’s important for people to understand the fundamentals of saving and investing when participating in Canada’s capital markets,” said Jean St-Gelais, CSA Chair and President and Chief Executive Officer of the Autorité des marchés financiers (Québec). “We are pleased that young Canadians, their parents and their teachers use the Challenge as a fun and informative learning tool to create good financial habits that will last a lifetime.” 

The CSA increased contest engagement and discussion through the social media tools Facebook and Twitter. The contest encouraged youth to share and discuss the Challenge with their Facebook friends and Twitter followers.

Patricia Lee-Kim from Belleville, Ontario, is this year’s national grand prize winner of a $2,000 cash prize. Thirteen other provincial and territorial winners also demonstrated their financial savvy by participating in the Challenge and were awarded a notebook computer: 

Provincial and territorial winners

• Stephanie Ridenour (British Columbia)
• Arielle Boyes (Alberta)
• Ashley Teckchandani-Buziak (Saskatchewan)
• Adrian De Juan (Manitoba)
• Robin Buckley-Cuomo (Ontario)
• Roxanne Bourgoin Ouellet (Québec)
• Jillian Breen (New Brunswick)
• Chauntelle Brewer (Nova Scotia)
• Laura Stewart (Prince Edward Island)
• Tiffany Sceviour (Newfoundland and Labrador)
• Shawna Bassett (Northwest Territories)
• Olivia Ullyot (Nunavut)
• Shellby Fulton (Yukon) 

While the Financial Fitness Challenge contest period for 2010 has ended, the educational information and interactive features remain available year-round to youth and teachers who visit www.financialfitnesschallenge.ca. To see more of the CSA’s free investor materials for people of all ages, visit www.securities-administrators.ca. 

The CSA, the council of the securities regulators of Canada’s provinces and territories, co-ordinates and harmonizes regulation for the Canadian capital markets.

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