Intergenerational Fairness Is Not A Partisan Issue

Hard work isn’t paying off for young people the way it did for previous generations; we need a federal task force working to remedy this

Earlier this summer, Generation Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw wrote an article for the Globe and Mail explaining how many of the hardships facing younger generations are the result of policies adopted decades ago, often by today’s older generations. He described how older generations failed to adequately consider how policy choices that helped them would erode housing affordability for generations to follow:

“There is only so much wealth that can be extracted from a housing system. Many homeowners like me, and especially those who are older, have extracted so much of that housing wealth that we have transcended the middle class to be among the more privileged. We have done so at the cost of unaffordability for those who walk in our footsteps.”

Paul called on our federal government to create a task force to investigate why Canada no longer works fairly for all generations – and to propose corrective policy actions to disrupt this legacy. Since then, he has been working his hardest to fulfill the “Change” part of Gen Squeeze’s mandate as a “Think and Change Tank”. He’s been invited to meet with leaders from the offices of the Prime Minister, the Minister of Labour and Seniors, and the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth to explore the contributions that a “Generational Fairness Task Force” can make.

As we keep working hard behind the scenes to get this task force established, Generation Squeeze’s Andrea Long, Senior Director of Research and Knowledge Mobilization, thought it would be a good time to take a moment to acknowledge what a historic year this has been for generational fairness. Leaders of all federal political parties have now acknowledged the generational impacts of our public policy choices and the harmful legacy we risk leaving to younger people and generations to follow.

See Andrea’s thoughts below, along with some questions that we need your help with. 

---

Both Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have been talking about the “promise” of Canada.  Each describes this promise as an expression of intergenerational fairness – in effect, that every generation should do better than the one which preceded it. Both leaders also acknowledge that this promise is at risk, as wages fall behind, and rising home prices push more and more younger people out of the housing market.  

It’s striking that the Conservative and Liberal leaders use a generational lens to define what we are striving towards as a country.  Their visions of success for Canada invoke the generational fairness principles at the core of Gen Squeeze: stewarding our collective resources to preserve what’s sacred, planning wisely to promote well-being at all ages, and treating future generations the way we’d want our own to be treated. 

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh invoked similar sentiments earlier this year. He spoke about the profound affordability pressures on younger Canadians and asked the government to address generational fairness in the federal budget. Mr. Singh echoed this sentiment in his podcast with us, underscoring the greater economic challenges and wealth inequality faced by today’s younger people compared to previous generations. Green party leader Elizabeth May offered similar observations in her podcast episode, drawing particular attention to the disproportionate climate burden on the shoulders of today’s younger people and generations to come.

It’s encouraging to watch all parties view Canada’s biggest problems through an intergenerational lens for the first time. Over a decade ago when Gen Squeeze first got started, policy dialogue about age focused largely on ‘ageist’ discrimination against seniors. There were few entry points for dialogue with any party about the deteriorating well-being of younger people, or the fact that hard work doesn’t pay off today the way it did for previous generations. The struggles of younger people were more likely to be viewed as personal failings, than the legacy of decades-old policy decisions that didn’t address fiscally unsustainable medical care and public pension systems, or environmentally unsustainable levels of pollution.

We spent years mobilizing and framing the evidence, to get these problems recognized through a generational lens. And now we have, by parties of all ideological stripes. 

It’s not enough by any stretch, but it is something to take a moment to acknowledge before diving back into the fight.  Now we need all those party leaders to back up their words with more action. As we continue working to get them to do that, we want to know:

• What else do you think we should do to make sure that our leaders turn words into actions?

• What do you think we should ask political leaders to do to restore Canada’s promise for younger and future generations?

• In your experience, how has the “promise of Canada” been compromised?  We’d love to hear your stories.