A joint initiative by educators, government and Canada’s biggest mutual fund company is aimed at revamping the high-school curriculum so students won’t encounter future financial problems.

The Building Futures project is being quarterbacked by the Canadian Foundation of Economic Education. Gary Rab-bior, president of the Toronto-based foundation, says he’s encouraged by the enthusiasm he sees in Manitoba, the province in which the program will start.

The CFEE will soon begin a multi-step process, including examining Manitoba’s high-school curriculum, identifying target learning outcomes, spelling out the gaps between the two and recommending changes. The program will have a limited rollout in Manitoba in the fall of 2008 and a full-scale launch a year later once teachers have been brought up to speed. Rabbior says the goal is to launch the program in “one or two” other provinces every year thereafter.

Manitoba will also work with CFEE to develop a new “test of economic and financial capability” that will be used to establish benchmarks and enable educators to monitor progress as the program becomes more entrenched.

The current state of finance-related learning in high schools is “wanting but improving,” Rab-bior says, and he’s encouraged to see a heightened interest and awareness across Canada about the need to prepare students better for the future. “The consequences of financial illiteracy are becoming more apparent to people,” he says.

Rabbior blames the preponderance of “easy money,” primarily available through credit cards, for the worsening debt situation in Canada.

“There are many incentives to take on a lot of debt, and you can find yourself in trouble so quickly,” he says. “People are vulnerable at such a young age. You can come out of university with $30,000 in debt. That’s a heavy load right at the time you need to be working hardest to build a life.”

Murray Taylor, president and CEO of Investors Group Inc. in Winnipeg, which has supported the project with a $350,000 donation, is happy to see the full commitment of educators throughout the province. He says a few teachers have incorporated the teaching of financial skills, such as learning how to calculate interest, into math classes. But that is not enough.

“Obviously, this program won’t solve all the world’s financial problems,” Taylor says. “But the more young people learn about finances, the better. Young people and older people, as well, will still make impulsive decisions, but hopefully this program will help them make better choices earlier.

“This is a universal problem,” he adds.

Greg Selinger, Manitoba’s finance minister, says students should be able to relate to the Building Futures program because so many of them face two crucial questions while in high school — how they are going to buy a car and how they will pay for their post-secondary education. He hopes they will learn enough so they can avoid the treadmill of having to patronize payday loan companies.

David Dodge, governor of the Bank of Canada, told students at Dakota Collegiate Institute in Winnipeg, at which the program was launched, that he believes they are all sufficiently motivated to learn about finances and economics.

“Who isn’t interested in money?” he asked. “Success in the future will hinge increasingly on the ability to understand markets and finances, and the willingness to learn continually as these topics evolve.

“Increasingly, the onus is on consumers to make their own choices about financial issues in a global marketplace in which the options are enormous,” he says. “Yet it is impossible for any of us to make good choices about very important issues without some training and education to prepare us.” IE