Pushing governments to design their budgets to promote generational fairness is a big part of what we do. Each year, governments create budgets that set out priorities and assign money to them. If something’s not in the budget, it’s pretty unlikely to happen. Our budget push starts months before any actual budget is released, and it continues long afterwards, because budgets are a year-round process. Through it all, we share our recommendations and analyses so that you can decide if you support proposed priorities, and if they are supported by evidence.

Four themes regularly show up in our budget asks:

  • Make life more affordable by reducing the cost of things like child care and housing.
  • Don’t tackle affordability by scaling back climate action – especially pollution pricing. It’s false economy, given the enormous costs of climate change. And it’s intergenerationally unjust when younger generations face the lion’s share of climate risks.
  • Reconnect home prices with local earnings because a home should be in reach of what hard work can earn. This means taxing housing wealth differently.
  • Improve accountability by filling in and fixing current data gaps – including what we spend by age, what we spend on treating illness vs creating health, and how housing price inflation is measured.

If you’ve seen our comprehensive policy solutions, you’ll probably recognize these themes. They’re among our top priorities to improve the health and wellbeing of all generations, from the early years onward. We’ve made progress, but we’ll keep working on them until we convince governments to make budgets that work for all generations!

Featured Budget Analyses

All Budget News & Resources

Recommendations for the 2026 Federal Budget

Profile picture for 1187 Andrea Long
|
March 04, 2026
To build a Canada in which people of all ages can thrive, and to meet respond to the generational challenge set out in Prime Minister Carney’s Mandate Letter, Generation Squeeze...
Budget Analyses, Budgets, Canada

2026 BC Budget: We Can No Longer Ignore the Ageism at its Core

Profile picture for 1187 Andrea Long
|
February 17, 2026
The BC government says its 2026 budget safeguards essential services. But a closer look at the numbers reveals a troubling pattern: the province is working far harder to protect spending...
Budgets, British Columbia, Budget Analyses

Recommendations for the 2026 BC Budget

Profile picture for 1187 Andrea Long
|
January 23, 2026
BC's 2026 Budget is coming in February. As always, we’ll be diving into the numbers to deliver generational analysis of spending and revenue decisions. For the province to make the...
Budgets, British Columbia, Budget Analyses

Globe & Mail: How to ensure universal health care stays that way

Profile picture for 4295 Paul Kershaw
|
January 06, 2026
Protecting universal access to healthcare in Canada will require a revenue discussion. Since younger generations already pay 20 to 40% more income taxes toward older people’s well-being than boomers did...
Health & Wellbeing, Budgets, Globe & Mail

The Doctor Shortage “Myth”

Profile picture for 1187 Andrea Long
|
December 02, 2025
A new report from the Generation Squeeze Lab at UBC challenges one of Canada’s most common health-care narratives: that long wait times are the result of a “doctor shortage.”
Budgets, Health & Wellbeing

Medical Budgets in an Aging Canada

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
November 26, 2025
New report shows why protecting universal access now requires generationally fair revenue reform.
Health & Wellbeing, Budgets

Did Budget 2025 deliver 'historic' housing investment?

Profile picture for 1187 Andrea Long
|
November 12, 2025
Budget 2025 promises historic action on housing. But buried in the fine print is a surprise: Presently, Ottawa plans to shrink capital investments for housing in the coming years.
Budgets, Canada, Housing

Budget 2025: Who is being asked to sacrifice

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
November 06, 2025
Budget 2025 sidesteps a hard truth: neither the Prime Minister who tabled it, nor the Opposition Leader who critiques it, has found the courage to ask financially secure retirees to...Read More
Budgets, Podcast, Canada

Who is being asked to sacrifice in Budget 2025?

Profile picture for 1187 Andrea Long
|
November 04, 2025
Budget 2025 sidesteps a hard truth: neither the Prime Minister who tabled it, nor the Opposition Leader who critiques it, has found the courage to ask financially secure retirees to...
Budgets, Canada

Recommendations for the Fall 2025 Federal Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
August 15, 2025
Canada can reduce pressure on the federal operating budget and manage rising defence costs without raising taxes. Here's our plan.
Budget Analyses, Budgets, Canada

Analysis of the 2025 Ontario budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
May 20, 2025
Lack of age-based data allows Ontario budget to avoid acting on key fiscal challenges Ontario’s 2025 budget projects a $14.6 billion deficit. It’s striking that this shortfall is so close...Read More
Budget Analyses, Ontario, Budgets

2025 Federal Election: Substance Not Slogans

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
April 24, 2025
Emma Buchanan of Visual Change Video sits down with Gen Squeeze Founder Paul Kershaw to discuss Elxn 45. We dive into: The magical thinking behind party promises to cut taxes...Read More
Podcast, Elections, Canada, Budgets

Analysis of the 2025 BC Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
March 05, 2025
Boomer Benefits, Budget Deficits: Why BC's Budget is in a Weak Position to Resist Trump Tariffs.
Budget Analyses, British Columbia, Budgets

Recommendations for the 2025 Federal Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
February 17, 2025
Canada can help people of all ages to thrive, while growing the resilience and economic security we need to withstand current threats, by following our evidence-based policy prescription That's what...Read More
Budget Analyses, Canada, Budgets

Recommendations for the 2025 Alberta Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
February 04, 2025
Join us in calling on the Alberta government to make the wellbeing of all ages a priority in the 2025 Budget. Our budget number-crunching will make sure you have all...
Alberta, Budgets, Budget Analyses

Recommendations for the 2025 BC Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
February 04, 2025
Join us in calling on the BC government to make the wellbeing of all ages a priority in the 2025 Budget. Our budget number-crunching will make sure you have all...
Budgets, Budget Analyses, British Columbia

Recommendations for the 2025 Ontario Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
February 04, 2025
Join us in calling on the Ontario government to make the wellbeing of all ages a priority in the 2025 Budget. Our budget number-crunching will make sure you have all...
Budget Analyses, Ontario, Budgets

BC Election: Deficits & Taxes with Marc Lee

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
October 16, 2024
For our last election bonus, we dip into the sexiest of ballot issues: deficits and taxes. Our guest is ⁠Marc Lee⁠, senior economist with the ⁠Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives⁠...Read More
Podcast, Elections, British Columbia, Budgets

Podcast Bonus: Big Budget News!

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
April 04, 2024
In this mini bonus episode, Gen Squeeze Founder Paul Kershaw and co-host Megan reflect on the significance of putting generational fairness front and centre in the government's spending plans.
Budgets, Canada, Podcast, Campaign Wins

Analysis of the 2024 Ontario Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
March 28, 2024
Ontario budget burdens younger residents: large deficit despite little spending to help affordability.
Ontario, Budgets, Budget Analyses

Analysis of the 2024 Alberta Budget

Profile picture for 4295 Paul Kershaw
|
March 07, 2024
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.
Budgets, Budget Analyses, Alberta

BC makes historic commitment to generational fairness in new budget

Profile picture for 1307 Ryan Vandecasteyen
|
February 24, 2024
We're thrilled to announce pivotal progress in our journey towards a Canada that works for all ages. BC has made an unprecedented commitment to generational fairness in the province’s 2024...
Campaign Wins, Budgets, British Columbia

Analysis of the 2024 BC Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
February 22, 2024
BC makes historic promise to budget fairly for all generations, future budgets need monitoring framework to ensure the promise is kept.
British Columbia, Budgets, Budget Analyses

Recommendations for the 2024 Ontario Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
January 02, 2024
In a nutshell, we want Ontario's next budget to: Put generational fairness at the centre of policy and budget decisions by creating a Generational Fairness Task Force. Organize housing policy...Read More
Ontario, Budgets, Budget Analyses

Recommendations for the 2024 BC Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
January 02, 2024
In a nutshell, we want BC's next budget to: Put generational fairness at the centre of policy and budget decisions by creating a Generational Fairness Task Force. Organize housing policy...Read More
Budget Analyses, British Columbia, Budgets

Recommendations for the 2024 Alberta Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
January 02, 2024
In a nutshell, we want Alberta's next budget to: Put generational fairness at the centre of policy and budget decisions by creating a Generational Fairness Task Force. Organize housing policy...Read More
Alberta, Budgets, Budget Analyses

Recommendations for the 2024 Federal Budget

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
September 06, 2023
Budget 2024 is an opportunity to continue to improve the health and wellbeing of all generations, from the early years onwards. Generation Squeeze recommends four priority actions to address the...
Canada, Budgets, Budget Analyses

A #TaxShift to Benefit the Vast Majority

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
May 16, 2018
Why did we write this report? To restore housing affordability forever, we need to think big picture. We need to treat housing as Homes First (investments second). We need to...Read More
Foundational Works, Budgets

Intergenerational Injustice in Canadian Public Finance

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
January 29, 2018
Like many countries, Canada has an aging population. While we have a duty to ensure our aging parents and grandparents have a dignified, healthy, and financially secure retirement, there is...Read More
Budgets, Foundational Works

Measuring the Age Gap in Canadian Social Spending

Profile picture for 737 Generation Squeeze
|
February 06, 2015
Why we wrote this report Canadian governments don't invest equally in people of different ages. We call this difference in social spending the "age gap" or the "generational spending gap." ...Read More
Foundational Works, Budgets

Site Search