What Parties Should Do

  • Hope that better days are ahead is among out most valuable public assets. It gives people confidence to start businesses, invest in communities, raise families, trust democratic institutions, and sacrifice today for tomorrow. When hope erodes for younger people, so does much of what allows a country to flourish.

    That’s why rebuilding hope for younger generations should be a central goal in this election. 

    The starting point is for all parties to acknowledge that our province has become far better at protecting the living standards people have already achieved, than creating comparable opportunities for those still trying to build them.

    As Gen Squeeze has long documented, diverging financial fortunes are at the root of generational tensions. Older people have lower poverty, higher incomes, more home ownership, and the most wealth. By contrast, financial precarity has become the norm for younger generations. Home ownership is out of reach, competition for rentals is fierce, and starting a family is being put off. The punchline is that hard work no longer pays off the way it did for previous generations.

    Alongside growing economic insecurity, young people report a sharp drop in life satisfaction — a decline on par with places like Venezuela, Lebanon, and Afghanistan. For those under age 25, Canada now ranks 72nd globally, below the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Yet seniors remain relatively happy, ranking 8th out of 143 countries.

    This gap should be setting off alarm bells for all parties. A province that allows this generational divide to deepen is putting its future at risk.

    BC’s next government must invest adequately in the building blocks of a healthy society: affordable child care, quality education, secure homes, adequate incomes, and a healthy environment. Rebuilding hope requires concrete changes that give younger people a fair chance to build the lives they are working toward.

  • BC’s next government must invest in wellbeing at every stage of life: helping children get a healthy start, younger adults build secure lives, and older British Columbians age with dignity. That means no longer shortchanging younger generations.

    We want the young people in our lives to thrive. We invest in their education, celebrate their milestones, and help when times are tough. Our public budgets should show the same commitment. Yet as spending rises to meet the needs of an aging population, investments in the foundations of younger people's wellbeing aren't keeping pace.

    This election, every party should commit to a clear principle: for every new $1 invested in healthy retirements, invest $1 in the wellbeing of children, parents, and young workers. Supporting our aging loved ones must go hand in hand with creating opportunities for those following in their footsteps. That’s how we stop younger generations from falling further behind.

  • 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.

  • The first step in solving any problem is recognizing you have one.

    British Columbians should be able to see how their government invests in wellbeing across a lifetime. Provincial budget documents don’t routinely provide the whole picture.

    Every party should commit to publishing an age breakdown of spending, with clear explanations of how investments support children, younger adults, and seniors — and monitor how that balance changes over time.

    This matters especially as population aging increases medical costs. Younger people already contribute more of their income taxes toward healthy retirements than today’s seniors did at the same age, even as they face greater housing pressures and financial insecurity.

    Reporting spending by age would make these choices visible. It would help voters assess whether investments in education, child care, housing, and climate safety are keeping pace — and hold governments accountable for helping every generation thrive.