Invest fairly in all generations: news & insights

While leaders spar over housing and immigration, few acknowledge how boomer aging has become the decisive force behind provincial and federal deficits. Unlike other drivers of deficits, such as poor policy decisions or trade wars, this one was both predictable and preventable.

Last year, Canada and other UN member states adopted a milestone in global governance: the Declaration on Future Generations. With a federal budget around the corner, the question is clear: Will Canada live up to the promise it made at the UN — or will short-term politics win out?

Millennials and Gen Z are already conscripted into national service for their elders – no uniform required. Medical care shows why. Paying for rising costs is one of the clearest examples of the service younger generations provide.

Medical care is the largest expense in every provincial budget across Canada. The demand for medical care will continue to surge as boomers age through the system. Canadians and governments alike need to confront the root cause that has long been ignored: provincial governments failed to plan for the predictable rise in boomers’ medical costs.

Ottawa recently released what it describes as the “most ambitious” housing plan in over 75 years. In many ways, it delivers. But for all its ambition on building homes, the plan is silent on deeper tensions that drive unaffordability – especially the generational dynamics at its core.

With young people facing heavy rents and oversized mortgages for the foreseeable future, compensation is overdue. Millennials and Gen Z deserve a greater share of the $1.5-trillion windfall generated by rising home values since boomers were young adults.

The fiscal pressures created by our aging population are driving Ontario’s red ink – as they are for many governments across Canada. The primary driver of Ontario’s deficit is easy to obscure when the province continues to fail to report the age breakdown of public spending. This isn’t just an oversight. It’s an institutional failure to publish data that would expose some of the most important trends shaping our fiscal future.

The Liberal election platform recognized that Canada no longer works for all generations. As Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new government appoints Ministers and sets out plans, solutions to this national challenge must be at the forefront of our efforts to protect, build, and unite Canada.

Alberta's 2025 budget commits to big spending on medical care. The wasteful deficit-spending is made worse by an income tax cut, which constrains investment in younger residents, including for housing and protecting the planet’s health. The overall fiscal pattern in Alberta reveals a startling degree of ageism toward younger residents.

How it is that we’ve so wildly underestimated Canadians’ willingness to take responsibility for paying for our pollution? Check out the surprising results from our latest poll.