Invest fairly in all generations: news & insights

A root cause of many of the financial challenges now facing millennials and Gen Z is that governments decades ago failed to plan adequately for the future. It is time for Canada to enshrine generational fairness in the machinery of government with an act to safeguard the well-being of present and 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.

From ongoing over-extraction of shared resources from the environment, to wealth from the housing system, and young people’s tax dollars going to pay for boomers’ retirement, a majority of millennials and Gen Z Canadians have good reasons to believe that previous generations are rigging the system for their benefit.

We need to guard against making it taboo to discuss the intergenerational tensions that flow from ageism, because shutting down dialogue diverts attention from the societal adaptions required to restore intergenerational solidarity.

The NDP in B.C., Progressive Conservatives in Ontario and Liberals in Ottawa all struggle to balance their budgets today because governments failed decades ago to plan adequately for boomers’ retirement.

There are only three realistic paths to eliminate the federal deficit: gut benefits for boomers’ retirement; raise taxes to pay for boomers’ benefits; or ramp up immigration. Voters deserve to know which challenges Mr. Poilievre plans to accept.

Canada’s Gen Fairness budget is getting noticed around the world. Our colleague from the UK’s Intergenerational Foundation, Liz Emerson, took the time to share her thoughts on the promise of generational fairness at the heart of Canada’s recent federal budget

This year's budget commitment to "Fairness for Every Generation" was a game changer, but the freighter of government changes course slowly. Now we're calling for some institutional tugboats that can keep prodding the federal government to follow through on its promise to make Canada work for all generations.

The 2024 federal budget promises “fairness for every generation” as the starting point for a new fiscal framework. This acknowledgment is a game changer, because the first step in solving a problem is admitting you have one. The next steps will take more than a single budget can deliver.

Meeting the goal of generational fairness means our legacy can’t be large deficits. Meeting this goal will require addressing the massive revenue shortfall but it will be nearly impossible if too many of us believe the path to balanced budgets is as easy as eliminating spending on things we love to hate.