Get Well Canada news & insights

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?

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.

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.

New global, national and provincial commitments make 2024 a stand-out year for generational fairness. This Global Intergenerational Fairness Day, young and old Canadians alike should take pride in the progress we’ve made. Join us in marking the day on November 16.

This week, the United Nations enacted the Declaration on Future Generations, which obliges all nations to govern as Good Ancestors. To support its implementation here at home, Generation Squeeze prepared Canada’s first-ever Report Card on our federal government’s 2024 budget commitment to "Fairness for Every Generation."

Generation Squeeze had a unique opportunity this week to join world leaders at the United Nations in New York for a global milestone event — the adoption of the first ever Declaration on Future Generations. The Declaration affirms the responsibilities we collectively hold today to those who follow, calling on governments at all levels to “safeguard the needs and interests of future generations.”

Generation Squeeze is bringing our generational fairness solutions to the first-ever United Nations' Summit of the Future in New York this September. Canada will join other world leaders to stand in solidarity with current and future generations by agreeing on a Pact for the Future and a Declaration for Future Generations.

The real fiscal signal in the 2024 budget is that the Ford government has a serious revenue problem, despite investing little to reduce unaffordability pressures. Provincial plans to restore a balanced budget by means of spending restraint and revenue from future economic growth is on shaky ground. Younger voters inherit more debt, but little help with major costs of living like postsecondary and housing. Here’s our take on why that is a bad generational deal.

Alberta’s 2024 budget ramps up funding for a medical care system that already spent more per person than in B.C. and Ontario, while achieving poorer health outcomes.