* Canada has prioritized the well-being of older generations at the expense of younger Canadians.
* Canada’s policies increasingly favour wealth preservation for older Canadians through subsidies, tax advantages, and entitlements, while younger generations face declining living standards and difficulty accumulating assets.
* This is exacerbated by rising housing costs and a tax system that favours retirees over families with children.
* This trend is fiscally unsustainable, given Canada’s aging population and declining fertility rate, and may lead to societal and economic decline.
Low-HangingFruit on
People are going to downvote this before reading past the title.
The tl~dr is canada favours older unproductive people over the younger productive generations and this will lead to economic decline.
ItsTheAlgebraist on
It doesn’t look promising. It is a positive feedback loop too, because things being so expensive and hard for young people is a downward pressure on fertility, but the best thing we could do for kids today (for when they grow up) is to have MORE kids, so that there are more people to help shoulder the burden of making society keep running.
Cailloutchouc on
One look at the housing market and all you’ll see is a generation of people willing to sacrifice the well being of every other subsequent generation in exchange for a gold plated retirement.
Strict_Common6871 on
Canada absolutely has not given up on its future. As a matter of fact it is working harder toward the future, but people just pretend they don’t see what this future is and scream “conspiracy theory” every time someone points them to it.
Fantastic-Door-9468 on
Every point regarding the generational financial gap is legitimate except it isn’t a Canadian thing.
This is literally the reality we live in that Boomers obliterated the long term economy for everyone else in almost every first world nation.
TE360 on
No, but maybe we can give up on rage-bait articles?
ParisFood on
This is happening in Europe also.
Fluid_Lingonberry467 on
The politicians are making living in Canada worse every decade.
And the middle class is paying for it.
Only the 1% are better off
Successful_Swim6332 on
Its not just Canada but Liberal democratic states as a whole. It no longer has a ideological project. It doesn’t really have any aims or goals. Its at a end.
Feisty-Ad-6122 on
Old people need to stop treating their homes as growing assets, that they are going to sell anyway to move to Florida. Housing is finite after all, and we aren’t building any new cities.
Victory-ForthePeople on
It gave up on me so I gave up on it and left. Best decision I’ve made.
faithOver on
I mean, not to be hyperbolic, but what has been the last decade if not economic decline? Genuinely. We had by far the worst economic growth of the G7 while growing our population by millions.
The conversation of decline isn’t one for the future its this today.
– Its rents declining for 18 months and one beds still being $2000.
– It’s housing declining for 24 months and apartments still being $500k+. Houses $1,000,000+.
– It’s groceries costs that go up often, literally, weekly.
– Its record youth unemployment.
– Its record food bank usage country wide
– Its record low new business formation
– Its record low consumer sentiment
None of this is theoretical. Its this reality today.
Bavarian_Raven on
Yup. That’s why skilled young people are heading to the states and abroad at record pace. 🙁
-Mage-Knight- on
I’m not sure how much I really agree with this whole selfish Boomer narrative.
If anything I think Boomers just won the lottery by being born in a period of post war rapid growth and prosperity far exceeding that of previous generations or those that followed.
iStayDemented on
I disagree that Canada favours older unproductive people over the younger productive generations. Rather, the policies in place heavily favour big business over aspiring entrepreneurs and consumers alike. Government approving mergers and acquisitions left and right, taxing heavily at every level, enacting protectionist policies and strangling the nation with red tape and overregulation has made the economic environment a hostile place to do business, stomping out any hope of competition and affordable prices.
Policies and the way they are applied also appear to strongly favour violent criminals by sheltering them from consequences rather than prioritizing the safety of the victim and giving them justice. Repeat offenses are practically encouraged and people who defend themselves in home invasions are instead put on the legal chopping block and forced to defend themselves once again in court.
AbnormallyBendPenis on
I mean prioritizing old generation makes a lot of sense for LPC. Last general election Liberals got destroyed in the young age group. So the only way for them to hold onto power in the future is providing more programs like the recent OAS and invest more in old people. I can support that. Reddit told me it’s the only way to keep the Nazis out. Only liberalism will prevent us from becoming the 51st state. Stop complaining and feed the old people man.
mattcass on
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
This is great.
andrewpipe123 on
LOL very obv yes! They sold out the future to have wage slaved “temporary foreign workers”. Anyone who doesn’t realize this is a moron
Plucky_DuckYa on
The fundamental challenge is that, by far, the largest and most consistent voting demographic in Canada is baby boomers, and what matters to them is very different than what matters to everyone else.
Boomers don’t want home prices to decrease. They don’t think OAS shouid be more restrictive based on wealth. They don’t want their capital gains taxed more than they are. And so on. They are a powerful voice for maintaining the status quo — they got theirs under a system that has been very beneficial to them, and they are unwilling to support change if it means giving up even one iota of their perks and privileges.
If you look at polling breakdowns by age demo, the Tories and Liberals are essentially tied in every category except Boomers, where the Liberals hold a massive advantage. So you know they aren’t doing *anything* that might shift those voters away from them.
Like many Gen X, I got lucky and squeaked in under the wire in terms of income and opportunity and home prices. I wouldn’t want to be a young person starting out now. They’re screwed. And it’s not getting better until the Boomers die off and there’s no longer a single age demographic that can more or less dictate to everyone else how things are going to be.
eddyofyork on
Young people could swing every election if they voted like other demographics.
leftygrooviness on
The numbers don’t lie. Our happiness index ranking tanked from 5th to 25th over the last 11 years – 71st in the world of you’re under 25. But fear not, the crack journalists at our national broadcaster have figured out why!
>life evaluations among under 25-year-olds in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have dropped significantly over the past decade, and suggested that **long hours spent scrolling through social media is a key factor in that trend.**
Yeah, nothing to do with the last 11 years of housing costs massively outpacing inflation, or Canada’s per-capita GDP growth ranking near the bottom among advanced economies.. It’s the darn kids on their phones!
>Canada historically maintained a per capita GDP very close to or slightly above the OECD average; however, as of 2024, Canada fell below the OECD average in real GDP per capita for the first time on record.
mariogolf on
There is no future, this cant be fixed without complete overhaul of everything and no ones ever going to agree to what needs to be done. Plus the corporations and billionaires control everything already. It’s over. enjoy what you can while you can.
Alecto7374 on
Canada hasn’t invested in their own people’s futures for decades. They allowed large companies and corporations to lobby their way into the situation we find ourselves in. They dictate things now.
supermau5 on
As a new father I cannot canot believe that our parents and grandparents did this to us . I would be ashamed if our generation left the country worst off for our children
TravisBickle2020 on
The idea that older people vote in their own interests has always been true and is not the cause of the situation younger Canadians find themselves in. It is the result of decades of corporate propaganda aimed at creating a permanent underclass by suppressing wages, weakening unions, getting rid of pensions and on and on. The career ladder is also broken so younger workers are stuck in entry-level positions. AI will continue to make this worse.
batman42 on
I know I’ve given up. Let the world burn. We made all of this up, the economy is something we created, but yet we have given up control to the wealthiest one percent. We could just not accept it. We could imagine a better system. But no, we do nothing and expect change.
Fuck it all.
olivier12315 on
Would anyone mind sending me screenshot of the articles? It’s paywalled
32 Comments
**In Brief:**
* Canada has prioritized the well-being of older generations at the expense of younger Canadians.
* Canada’s policies increasingly favour wealth preservation for older Canadians through subsidies, tax advantages, and entitlements, while younger generations face declining living standards and difficulty accumulating assets.
* This is exacerbated by rising housing costs and a tax system that favours retirees over families with children.
* This trend is fiscally unsustainable, given Canada’s aging population and declining fertility rate, and may lead to societal and economic decline.
People are going to downvote this before reading past the title.
The tl~dr is canada favours older unproductive people over the younger productive generations and this will lead to economic decline.
It doesn’t look promising. It is a positive feedback loop too, because things being so expensive and hard for young people is a downward pressure on fertility, but the best thing we could do for kids today (for when they grow up) is to have MORE kids, so that there are more people to help shoulder the burden of making society keep running.
One look at the housing market and all you’ll see is a generation of people willing to sacrifice the well being of every other subsequent generation in exchange for a gold plated retirement.
Canada absolutely has not given up on its future. As a matter of fact it is working harder toward the future, but people just pretend they don’t see what this future is and scream “conspiracy theory” every time someone points them to it.
Every point regarding the generational financial gap is legitimate except it isn’t a Canadian thing.
This is literally the reality we live in that Boomers obliterated the long term economy for everyone else in almost every first world nation.
No, but maybe we can give up on rage-bait articles?
This is happening in Europe also.
The politicians are making living in Canada worse every decade.
And the middle class is paying for it.
Only the 1% are better off
Its not just Canada but Liberal democratic states as a whole. It no longer has a ideological project. It doesn’t really have any aims or goals. Its at a end.
Old people need to stop treating their homes as growing assets, that they are going to sell anyway to move to Florida. Housing is finite after all, and we aren’t building any new cities.
It gave up on me so I gave up on it and left. Best decision I’ve made.
I mean, not to be hyperbolic, but what has been the last decade if not economic decline? Genuinely. We had by far the worst economic growth of the G7 while growing our population by millions.
The conversation of decline isn’t one for the future its this today.
– Its rents declining for 18 months and one beds still being $2000.
– It’s housing declining for 24 months and apartments still being $500k+. Houses $1,000,000+.
– It’s groceries costs that go up often, literally, weekly.
– Its record youth unemployment.
– Its record food bank usage country wide
– Its record low new business formation
– Its record low consumer sentiment
None of this is theoretical. Its this reality today.
Yup. That’s why skilled young people are heading to the states and abroad at record pace. 🙁
I’m not sure how much I really agree with this whole selfish Boomer narrative.
If anything I think Boomers just won the lottery by being born in a period of post war rapid growth and prosperity far exceeding that of previous generations or those that followed.
I disagree that Canada favours older unproductive people over the younger productive generations. Rather, the policies in place heavily favour big business over aspiring entrepreneurs and consumers alike. Government approving mergers and acquisitions left and right, taxing heavily at every level, enacting protectionist policies and strangling the nation with red tape and overregulation has made the economic environment a hostile place to do business, stomping out any hope of competition and affordable prices.
Policies and the way they are applied also appear to strongly favour violent criminals by sheltering them from consequences rather than prioritizing the safety of the victim and giving them justice. Repeat offenses are practically encouraged and people who defend themselves in home invasions are instead put on the legal chopping block and forced to defend themselves once again in court.
I mean prioritizing old generation makes a lot of sense for LPC. Last general election Liberals got destroyed in the young age group. So the only way for them to hold onto power in the future is providing more programs like the recent OAS and invest more in old people. I can support that. Reddit told me it’s the only way to keep the Nazis out. Only liberalism will prevent us from becoming the 51st state. Stop complaining and feed the old people man.
“A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
This is great.
LOL very obv yes! They sold out the future to have wage slaved “temporary foreign workers”. Anyone who doesn’t realize this is a moron
The fundamental challenge is that, by far, the largest and most consistent voting demographic in Canada is baby boomers, and what matters to them is very different than what matters to everyone else.
Boomers don’t want home prices to decrease. They don’t think OAS shouid be more restrictive based on wealth. They don’t want their capital gains taxed more than they are. And so on. They are a powerful voice for maintaining the status quo — they got theirs under a system that has been very beneficial to them, and they are unwilling to support change if it means giving up even one iota of their perks and privileges.
If you look at polling breakdowns by age demo, the Tories and Liberals are essentially tied in every category except Boomers, where the Liberals hold a massive advantage. So you know they aren’t doing *anything* that might shift those voters away from them.
Like many Gen X, I got lucky and squeaked in under the wire in terms of income and opportunity and home prices. I wouldn’t want to be a young person starting out now. They’re screwed. And it’s not getting better until the Boomers die off and there’s no longer a single age demographic that can more or less dictate to everyone else how things are going to be.
Young people could swing every election if they voted like other demographics.
The numbers don’t lie. Our happiness index ranking tanked from 5th to 25th over the last 11 years – 71st in the world of you’re under 25. But fear not, the crack journalists at our national broadcaster have figured out why!
>life evaluations among under 25-year-olds in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand have dropped significantly over the past decade, and suggested that **long hours spent scrolling through social media is a key factor in that trend.**
Yeah, nothing to do with the last 11 years of housing costs massively outpacing inflation, or Canada’s per-capita GDP growth ranking near the bottom among advanced economies.. It’s the darn kids on their phones!
>Canada historically maintained a per capita GDP very close to or slightly above the OECD average; however, as of 2024, Canada fell below the OECD average in real GDP per capita for the first time on record.
There is no future, this cant be fixed without complete overhaul of everything and no ones ever going to agree to what needs to be done. Plus the corporations and billionaires control everything already. It’s over. enjoy what you can while you can.
Canada hasn’t invested in their own people’s futures for decades. They allowed large companies and corporations to lobby their way into the situation we find ourselves in. They dictate things now.
As a new father I cannot canot believe that our parents and grandparents did this to us . I would be ashamed if our generation left the country worst off for our children
The idea that older people vote in their own interests has always been true and is not the cause of the situation younger Canadians find themselves in. It is the result of decades of corporate propaganda aimed at creating a permanent underclass by suppressing wages, weakening unions, getting rid of pensions and on and on. The career ladder is also broken so younger workers are stuck in entry-level positions. AI will continue to make this worse.
I know I’ve given up. Let the world burn. We made all of this up, the economy is something we created, but yet we have given up control to the wealthiest one percent. We could just not accept it. We could imagine a better system. But no, we do nothing and expect change.
Fuck it all.
Would anyone mind sending me screenshot of the articles? It’s paywalled
The past ate the future.
It’s paywalled.
Is this ageist propaganda?
Managed decline
Yes