Gen Squeeze Founder Paul Kershaw’s presentation marking the 25^th anniversary of UBC’s Human Early Learning Partnership explored how decades of evidence about the rising economic, health, and social risks faced by kids and their families hasn’t motivated governments to act urgently enough in response.

Provinces across Canada tolerate deteriorating wellbeing for young residents, not because of a lack of data about its scale and impact, but because of the structural ageism baked into our spending decisions.

When new dollars disproportionately flow into the medical care system primarily used by an aging population, fewer resources remain for provinces to invest in the foundations of healthy societies — child care, education, poverty reduction, and family supports.

The result is a pattern of public budgets that are anti-child, anti-parent, and anti-young worker.

Political choices about where to allocate public resources are failing our kids. Our analysis of each 2026 provincial budget makes clear that the same choices are being made in all jurisdictions across Canada, regardless of which party forms government.

Learn more about provincial spending decisions that fail our kids

Paul challenged all organization working to promote the wellbeing of kids and young families to focus their advocacy where it matters most: the budget decisions that determine how governments divide resources between the young and the old.

We must call out ageist budgets that privilege older generations at the expense of their children and grandchildren — and put Canada back on a path where wellbeing is built from the earliest years onward and people can thrive at every stage of life.

Act Now to End Anti-Child Budgets