Generation Squeeze's Hard Truths – Details, episodes & analysis

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.

Dig Deeper

• Event slides with budget infographic and more

• ⁠Support our call for an Act to Safeguard the Wellbeing of Present and Future Canadians⁠

• ⁠Our take on Budget 2024⁠

• 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.

Dig Deeper

• 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

Canada isn't the only nation squeezed by the symptoms of generational unfairness, and Gen Squeeze isn't the only organization squeezing back. To kick off our "We're not alone" miniseries, Paul Kershaw and Angie Chan spoke with Tom Walker, lead economist at Think Forward in Australia.

Down under, Tom explains that younger generations are "doing it tough" too, faced with unaffordable housing, rising living and education costs, precarious jobs with declining wages, extreme weather -- all set against an ominous backdrop of one global crisis after another. Tom tells us how his organization is pushing for a parliamentary inquiry and a more fair tax system to invest in the collective wellbeing of young and old alike.

"There’s something that sits above all this: that persistent short-termism in our government outlook and the policy they make, and their lack of ability or courage to do meaningful reform to address any of these things," Tom says. "And an economic system which supports [older] people who are already wealthy... if you dump all your money into property, you pay less tax than someone who's working."

Think Forward is the first voice we'll be bringing you from our international coalition of generational fairness champions, which launched the inaugural worldwide Intergenerational Fairness Day last month. Stay tuned for more!

Learn more:

• Think Forward
• Our recap of Intergenerational Fairness Day
• Intergenerational Fairness Day coalition podcast

A lot of Canada's current crises were caused in part by past governments failing to think beyond election cycles. So how can we make governments think more long term and consider the impact of their decisions on future generations? To find out, we spoke with Jerry DeMarco, the Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development in Canada’s Office of the Auditor General.

Our conversation touched on:

• How his office holds the federal government to account on its sustainable development promises
• How Canada went from leader to laggard on climate action
• Comparing sustainable development and generational fairness
• How Canada and other countries can embed long-term thinking in government decisions

Commissioner DeMarco has been interested in intergenerational equity for much of his 25-year career as a leading expert on environmental law. Before joining the OAG, he served as Commissioner of the Environment and Assistant Auditor General at the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario.

PS: If you're interested in past policy decisions harming younger generations today, mark your calendars for Generation Squeeze's first Community Call on November 16! Register here.

Interview Highlights

“It’s kind of ironic that the institution that's protecting the public commons is often the one that's actually discounting the future at our own expense.”

“When we didn't have the technology to create multi-decade or multi-century messes for others to clean up, then there wasn't necessarily a need to have institutions that could deal with that. But now that we do have that ability to create these long-term problems, we need to harness our ingenuity to figure out new ways of addressing them.”

Dig Deeper

• Commissioner of the Environment and Sustainable Development Reports to Parliament

• Our push for a federal Generational Fairness Task Force
• Our interview with Wales Future Generations Commissioner
• Network of Institutions for Future Generations
• United Nations Summit of the Future

Max Fawcett from Canada's National Observer joins Gen Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw for a wide-ranging look at intergenerational injustice in Canada. They tackle:

• The complicity of home owners in our housing affordability crisis
• Why building more supply is not a silver bullet
• How baby boomers are at risk of being remembered for leaving young people in an impossible situation
• Pension plan politics in Alberta
• Pollution pricing

Memorable quotes from Max:

"If there's going to be a meaningful response to this issue that makes housing affordable, it's going to affect all of us probably a little bit negatively. And that's okay because it's been affecting those of us who own homes very disproportionately in the positive sense. And that comes at a cost. It's not like that just sort of falls out of the sky. That money, that is sort of building up in the walls of our houses, is in some sense being taken out of the pockets of young people. And that's not fair."

"We need a new platonic ideal if we're going to make this country accessible to young people again, to immigrants, to strivers, to entrepreneurs, to people who want to do more than just spend 60% of their income on housing. You know, shelter should not be the thing that defines how we exist and the choices we make… I’d love to get back to a place where we didn't talk about housing like it was some sort of national obsession. But it's going to require some hard conversations. And it's going to require electing people who are willing to kind of stick their necks out a little further than we've seen so far."

Max's columns mentioned in this episode:

• Homeowners are the true gatekeepers in our housing debate
• Pierre Poilievre’s housing prescription doesn’t add up
• Danielle Smith’s pension plan politics could backfire
• To solve Canada’s housing crisis, make renting great again

For this episode, Paul Kershaw, Aleem Punja (National Operating Officer, Aga Khan Council for Canada), and Ene Underwood (CEO, Habitat for Humanity GTA) wrestle with hard truths Canadians must face to make housing affordable again for younger generations and newcomers: 

• the interplay of housing and immigration policy;
• renegotiating Canadians' expectations about home ownership and wealth; 
• Habitat for Humanity's innovative adaptations to the GTA's housing market; 
• what we can learn from places that are making strides on housing affordability; 
• and how we can take action in our own lives.

This episode builds on a three-part discussion series, "Housing in the GTA," organized by Generation Squeeze, the Future Ready Initiative, and Habitat for Humanity GTA this past spring. Their shared goal was to help Torontonians cut through distracting rhetoric about housing, so we could move more quickly to implement solutions. The series received generous funding from the Canerector Foundation and was beautifully hosted by the Ismaili Centre – Toronto, with support from many dedicated volunteers. 

Our guests:

• Aleem Punja is the National Operations Officer for the ⁠Future Ready Initiative⁠, a flagship community-based, multi-service organization of the Aga Khan Council for Canada. He also holds the position of Vice-Chair on the Board of Directors for the Toronto Lands Corporation and is an Executive Member of Civic Action's Emerging Leaders Network. 
• Ene Underwood has been the CEO of ⁠Habitat for Humanity Greater Toronto Area⁠ for over a decade. There she leads a team that defies the odds by helping working families build strength, stability and self-reliance through affordable homeownership in what is characterized as one of most challenging residential real estate markets in North America. Ene was also member of Ontario’s Housing Affordability Task Force which filed its report with the Ontario government in February 2022 setting an ambitious goal of 1.5 million new homes over the next decade.  

Dig deeper:

• ⁠Housing in the GTA: Who pays and who gains? ⁠
• ⁠Immigration and Housing in the GTA: What can we gain?⁠
• ⁠Housing in the GTA: What's at stake?⁠
• ⁠Ways you can take action⁠
• ⁠Toronto Star: Families in the GTA earning six figures now eligible for Habitat for Humanity help⁠
• ⁠Seattle Times: First American City to Tame Inflation Owes Its Success to Affordable Housing (Bloomberg)

In this episode, we look overseas for inspiration about improving the wellbeing of younger and future generations. Wales' Future Generations Commissioner Derek Walker describes his role as the watchdog for his country's pioneering Future Generations Act. He talks about Wales' new national healthcare strategy and the difficult task of balancing the needs of people struggling to pay their bills now with the needs of people not yet born. He also reflects on the achievements of his pioneering predecessor, Sophie Howe, who compelled the country to scrap plans for a new highway in favour of greater investment in public and active transportation.

Learn more

• Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner for Wales
• Our policy solutions for investing fairly in all generations, which includes appointing a government point person for generational fairness

It's been another rough summer for those of us worried about whether our planet will remain habitable for younger and future generations. So for this episode, we talked to environmental educator and author Elin Kelsey about fighting climate doomism with evidence-based hope.

Elin Kelsey is the author of "Why Hope Matters: Why changing the way we think is critical to solving the environmental crisis." She's penned several children's books and articles for Hakai Magazine and was a co-creator of #oceanoptimism.

Looking for solutions after this episode? We've got a few! Check out our policy solutions for climate, housing, family affordability, wellbeing, and investing fairly in all ages. 

Learn more

• Project Drawdown Solutions Library
• Gapminder
• Solutions Journalism Network Story Tracker
• "How Hope and Doubt Affect Climate Change Mobilization"

We talk to ⁠Dr. Elaine MacDonald⁠ about a major update to Canada's most important environmental law and why it’s a big win for generational fairness.

The House of Commons recently passed landmark legislation overhauling the Canadian Environmental Protection Act for the first time in decades and recognizing the right of every individual in Canada to a healthy environment. Not only that, Bill S-5 tasked the federal government with upholding the principle of intergenerational equity in the bill’s implementation.

Dr. MacDonald was one of the bill's champions and is Ecojustice’s Healthy Communities Program Director. She’s an environmental engineer who applies her expertise to work related to air quality, water pollution, and toxic substances. 

Highlights

“We need to be protecting the environment for all generations, including future generations. So it really instills a kind of long-term thinking into government decision making,” Dr. MacDonald says. “Even within existing generations…when they're assessing substances for regulation under CEPA, they need to be thinking about all the generations that are currently here, from children to elderly people.”

Learn more

• Ecojustice: Working to bring CEPA into the 21st century
• From our Substack: A step forward for intergenerational equity
• Government of Canada announces passage of Bill S-5: Strengthening Environmental Protection for a Healthier Canada Act
• Dr. David Boyd’s book, The Right to a Healthy Environment: Revitalizing Canada's Constitution
• UN passes universal right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment
  

Dr. Paul Kershaw and Angie Chan chat with federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh about tackling the massive inequalities faced by younger Canadians. This far-ranging, in-depth interview also touches on:

• How lowering the voting age could strengthen our democracy
• The need for greater investment in the building blocks of a healthy society--such as safe, stable housing and jobs--which contribute more to our overall wellbeing than the medical care we receive
• How the federal government should apply an intergenerational lens when making decisions, akin to how budgets already must assess the impact of policies and programs on women and gender diverse people
• How we can shine more light on generational unfairness hidden in federal budgets

• Our goal to create a Minister for Generational Fairness
• ... and buckets of pierogi!

Our website has a full transcript of this episode. A video with the complete interview is also on our YouTube channel, where you'll get to admire Mr. Singh's impressive bookshelf.

PS: If you're interested in the discussion about how long it takes a young person to save a down payment across Canada, check out our ⁠Straddling the Gap 2022⁠ report, in which we crunch the numbers for housing affordability in all provinces and many cities. 

Join our network⁠ to grow our power to tackle generational unfairness!

Highlights: "One of the biggest contributors to us being healthy is the fact that we've got a home, and that we can eat food, or that we are not in poverty," Singh says. "We are better as a community when we take care of each other... If we care about healthcare...we also need to then make sure we care about our neighbours that aren't able to get housed, who can't find a place to rent or to own. We're also really not gonna be a healthy society if people are living in poverty. If people can't get childcare so that they can go to work and then they can support themselves and their families."

"We have to take care of our seniors, but we also need to make sure that young people have a fair shot, young families have a fair shot ,and that there isn't this inequality that exists right now," he says. "The way we do it is we are responsible with where we spend our resources, and we also need to look at increasing revenue in a responsible way as well."