Generation Squeeze's Hard Truths
Generation Squeeze
Recent Episodes
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke with Gen Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw and our supporters about the federal government's plans to deliver on its budget's promise to restore "Fairness for Every Generation," through investments in housing, child care, climate action, and economic growth. They also tackle the imbalance in spending on older and younger Canadians. This is a recording of a live town hall in Vancouver on June 20.
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Support our call for an Act to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Present and Future Canadians
- Previous Hard Truths episodes with Prime Minister Trudeau, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh, and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sat down with Gen Squeeze Founder Paul Kershaw for a live show with our supporters and allies in Vancouver. They delved into the 2024 Budget's focus on "Fairness for Every Generation," as well as housing, child care, climate change, deficits, and the challenge of protecting healthy retirements without sacrificing the wellbeing of younger and future Canadians.
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- Slides from the event with graphics
- Prime Minister Trudeau's budget announcement video, which ends with a plea to older generations: "We can't let them down."
- Support our call for an Act to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Present and Future Canadians
- Our take on Budget 2024
- Leger x Post Media report that found most Gen Z & Millennials agree that politicians are more interested in protecting interests of older generations and that previous generations are ‘rigging the system’.
- Previous Hard Truths episodes with NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh and Green Party Leader Elizabeth May
Younger Canadians are far from alone in feeling squeezed by the rising costs of housing, child care, and higher education. In this episode, we spoke with Liz Emerson, CEO of the UK's Intergenerational Foundation, about the symptoms of generational unfairness harming young people in England, as well as the progress her organization has made calling political attention to their plight and fighting for a fairer deal for young and future generations.
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- "Canada promises generational fairness" by Liz Emerson
- Hard Truths: Younger Australians aren't getting "a fair go" either
When you think about what makes us healthy, do you think of doctors, medicine, and hospitals? Or do you think of affordable housing, living wages, and quality child care? Our health depends much more on the conditions in which we are born, grow, live, work and age than on the medical care we receive. But for decades Canadian governments have devoted more and more of their budgets to medical care, leaving less money for the social supports that matter more to lifelong wellbeing. This unhealthy imbalance in government spending is a major obstacle in our quest to make Canada work more fairly for all generations. So we spoke with award-winning author and journalist André Picard about how curing our “sickness care system” will require greater investment in the building blocks of a healthy society.
André Picard has been writing about health for The Globe & Mail since 1987 and was appointed to the Order of Canada last year for his dedication to public health journalism.
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- Get Well Canada, our alliance pushing Canadian governments to rebalance how they invest in wellbeing
- "Canada must rethink health spending strategy" by André Picard, The Globe & Mail
- "Smart health-care policy must include affordable housing" by André Picard, The Globe & Mail
- CBC Ideas: "We don't have a health-care crisis, it's an implementation crisis, says André Picard"
- CCPA's The Monitor featuring Get Well Canada
- Watch our video about Past Policy Chickens
Governments of all party stripes, across Canada, must confront a gnarly problem when it comes to investing more fairly in all ages. How do we pay for the ballooning retirement costs of baby boomers, without skimping on the needs of younger people and burdening future generations with massive public debts? And more basically, how can we have "adult conversations" about how to pay for the Canada we want? Gen Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw delves into these questions and more with leading conservative thinker Sean Speer.
Sean is editor-at-large at The Hub, a Public Policy Forum fellow, and an assistant professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He was previously a senior economic adviser to former Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
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Our Budget Season 2024 commentary and Substack Chat, where you can share your budget questions and ideas during our “Office Hours” on April 19.
“A fiscal reckoning is coming for Canada” by Sean Speer, The Hub
“Protect OAS by eliminating outdated tax shelters for retirees” by Paul Kershaw, The Globe & Mail
“Globe & Mail: Canada’s promise to NATO collides with spending increases for retirees” by Paul Kershaw, The Globe & Mail
Paul Kershaw’s provincial budget commentary in The Hub: