Our wins
We’re proud of our track record shaping public policy in more generationally fair ways. Here are some highlights from a decade of advocacy.
Changing systems
The 2024 Federal Budget promised to deliver Fairness for Every Generation, acknowledging that hard work doesn’t pay off today the way it did for previous generations. It’s clear from the Gen Squeeze language used through budget documents and announcements that Ottawa is beginning to listen to our prescriptions to address generational tensions in public policy.
In 2024, BC affirmed the importance of considering provincial budgets through the lens of generational fairness, laying the groundwork for investments that promote wellbeing for all ages. The province credits Gen Squeeze research as the foundation for this shift.
Our Get Well Canada alliance is transforming how Canada invests in wellbeing, reminding Canadians and their governments that the best bet for longer, healthier lives is spending more urgently on social supports than in medical care.
We exposed the addiction to high and rising home values at the heart of harmful housing unaffordability for some, and excess housing wealth for others — setting the stage for housing solutions that go beyond building more supply. Canada now recognizes housing as an intergenerational injustice, and affirms stalling home prices and reducing investor demand as key policy levers.
We worked with the federal government to create Canada’s first-ever reporting of age trends in public finance, a critical step towards systematic monitoring of intergenerational budget impacts. More still needs to be done to correct some serious flaws in the way the government reports on age data.
Changing policy
Our $10 a day child care branding was instrumental in securing $30 billion of government funding to reduce affordability pressures on young families. This historic investment created the first new social program of this magnitude to be built in Canada for over half a century.
We led an intergenerational coalition to successfully defend pollution pricing in Saskatchewan , Ontario, and at the Supreme Court. This win paved the way for nation-wide implementation of what evidence confirms is among the most efficient tools for climate action.
We were instrumental in BC’s decision to signal the need to slow rising home prices by increasing taxes on homes over $3 million and expanding taxes on foreign buyers. These milestones advanced our tax shift — lower taxes on incomes, and higher taxes on things like unhealthy home prices.
Our housing solutions underpinned the first empty-homes tax in Vancouver, followed by Toronto and Ottawa. We equipped municipalities like Vancouver and Toronto to address short-term rentals. Our data made young adults eligible for billions in program funding via Canada’s National Housing Strategy.
Changing minds
The first step in solving any problem is recognizing you have one. We’re seeing more and more signs that our hard work to put generational fairness on the radar of governments, media and Canadians is paying off.
- All federal party leaders acknowledge the intergenerational tensions driving Canada’s housing, climate, medical and affordability crises.
- More journalists and commentators are bringing a generational lens to their work on the wellbeing of younger Canadians, housing, interest rates, taxation, retirement supports, and government budgets.
- A growing group of gen fairness mavens are leading the charge for more generationally fair policies — even when changes will affect them directly.
“No one likes to pay taxes, and paying more certainly would face resistance. Yet, when our services lack the quality we expect, we recognize the importance of funding… Tax spending must more fairly focus on addressing critical issues younger generations face: unaffordable housing and high cost of living, and unless we make changes: structural government debt. If that means less for people who have already acquired wealth needed to support their remaining life in comfort, and more for younger generations then so be it. Maybe it’s time for a “Young Age Supplement”.”
Ginette Holland
Gen Squeeze supporter
“I hope that my fellow citizens aren’t being fooled by the simplistic ‘Axe the tax’ slogan. A price on pollution (the so-called carbon tax) has proven to be the most effective and cost-efficient means of reducing carbon pollution (numerous studies of the BC carbon tax regime show clear evidence)… If we want to have an affordable, sustainable life, then whether we are Conservatives, Greens, Liberals or NDP we must insist that our political leaders have an efficient approach to reducing emissions. To do otherwise is to condemn our children and grandchildren to a less affordable and less sustainable world. Let’s not ‘Shirk the Work’ that we have to do to keep our planet alive and beautiful for coming generations.”
Hart Jansson
Gen Squeeze supporter
“Most boomers, myself included, used to believe that our children would be better off than us, our grandchildren even more so… but with demographic change, marginal economics and skewed taxation, that dream is simply unrealistic. Indeed, the reverse is true; we boomers have grabbed the biggest slice of the pie and left a diminished world for our progeny. Time to start thinking — and addressing our legacy.”
Richard Patterson
Gen Squeeze supporter
Wins for the Gen Squeeze Lab
The Gen Squeeze Knowledge Mobilization Lab ensures our research meets rigorous academic standards, so you know our work is credible. The Lab and its lead, Dr. Paul Kershaw, are recognized for this work by academia, governments and allies in the community.
- Dr. Kershaw was recognized in 2022 with the University of British Columbia President’s award for public education through the media.
- The Government of Canada awarded Dr. Kershaw and Gen Squeeze its inaugural prize for excellence in moving Knowledge to Action on housing in 2018.
- Gen Squeeze received the BC Affordable Housing Champion award in 2017 from the provincial Housing Central coalition.
- Dr. Kershaw was recognized as 2016 Academic of the Year by the Confederation of University Faculty Associations of BC for Gen Squeeze research and knowledge mobilization.
- Dr. Kershaw received two national awards from the Canadian Political Science Association for his research on gender and politics.