BC’s next government must acknowledge — and address — the province’s longstanding failure to prepare adequately for the costs of population aging.

For decades, successive governments knew that the retirement of the large baby boom generation would increase demand for medical care. The data are clear that Canadians over age 65 use roughly four times more medical care as those under age 50. When demand goes up, costs predictably rise as well. Yet no BC government chose to adapt revenue systems in response.

The Canada Pension Plan offered an example of what needed to be done. In the late 1990s, Ottawa increased premiums by 68%, building the reserve needed to keep the CPP sustainable as the population aged. Those higher contributions — paid in part by today’s seniors during their working years — ensure that the CPP benefits on which retirees are now drawing were largely pre-funded.

Provinces like BC made no comparable adjustment for medical care. They allowed spending pressures to grow without corresponding revenue increases — and the result is clear. 

If BC’s population still looked like it did in 1976 — with just 10% of residents over age 65 instead of the 20% we have today — the province would spend about 22% less on medical care. That’s enough to transform BC’s $7.7-billion deficit in 2025/26 into a modest $800 million surplus.

Needing more care as we age is normal. Failing to prepare for that care has left a growing bill for younger generations, alongside too little investment in the priorities that matter most for Millennials, Gen Z, and their children.

This election, every party should commit to immediately forming a Better Late Than Never Task Force, bringing together fiscal experts, medical care leaders, and the public to develop a fair financing plan. Its mandate should be to protect universal access, safeguard vulnerable seniors, and preserve room to invest in the wellbeing of younger generations.