Opinion: Canada, prepare for a decade of thrift and lower living standards
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Fifty-two per cent of us worry a lot about our personal finances. Fifty per cent feel frustrated, 47 per cent feel emotionally drained and 43 per cent feel depressed. There is not one survey indicator to suggest Canadians have made financial progress in 2025 compared with 2024.
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Our debt-to-household disposable income has bumped up against nearly 200 per cent for years now, putting Canada in first place among G7 countries. Canada’s is 185 per cent; the average for all G7 countries is 125 per cent according to Statistics Canada. Canadian households collectively owe about $3-trillion, almost three-quarters of it is mortgage debt.
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Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it. The housing crisis hasn’t just hobbled the hopes of many Canadians seeking affordable housing; it is undercutting middle-class living standards.
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That thinking of retirement provokes anxiety in surveys on the matter shouldn’t be surprising. It is one more item on a growing list of aspirations many Canadians cannot afford.
Opinion: Canada, prepare for a decade of thrift and lower living standards
Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it
The Globe and Mail (www.theglobeandmail.com)
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Fifty-two per cent of us worry a lot about our personal finances. Fifty per cent feel frustrated, 47 per cent feel emotionally drained and 43 per cent feel depressed. There is not one survey indicator to suggest Canadians have made financial progress in 2025 compared with 2024.
…
Our debt-to-household disposable income has bumped up against nearly 200 per cent for years now, putting Canada in first place among G7 countries. Canada’s is 185 per cent; the average for all G7 countries is 125 per cent according to Statistics Canada. Canadian households collectively owe about $3-trillion, almost three-quarters of it is mortgage debt.
…
Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it. The housing crisis hasn’t just hobbled the hopes of many Canadians seeking affordable housing; it is undercutting middle-class living standards.
…
That thinking of retirement provokes anxiety in surveys on the matter shouldn’t be surprising. It is one more item on a growing list of aspirations many Canadians cannot afford.
Opinion: Canada, prepare for a decade of thrift and lower living standards
Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it
The Globe and Mail (www.theglobeandmail.com)
EAT THE RICH! Tax the rich, if they resist seize their assets and drive them into poverty. There should be no billionaires.
Compared to the world they inflict on humanity en mass NOTHING you can do to a billionaire or their property is a crime.
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EAT THE RICH! Tax the rich, if they resist seize their assets and drive them into poverty. There should be no billionaires.
Compared to the world they inflict on humanity en mass NOTHING you can do to a billionaire or their property is a crime.
Fine by me, but much of the op-ed refers to the housing crisis.
The housing crisis has been brought on by middle class tax policy, a lack of public housing construction, NIMBYism, financialization of housing (significantly by the middle class, although REITs have been getting involved recently), poorly planned immigration/international student policies, and the decline of skilled/unskilled trades (probably related to education, minimum wage, and tax policy). You can also add shitty transit/city planning to that mix, if you’re in to that kind of thing.
It would be fair to tax the rich more, and it would probably make sense to tax gainz on housing/real estate more aggressively. However, there is a massive failure of planning at all levels of Canadian government won’t be solved through simple adjustments to personal taxation.
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Fifty-two per cent of us worry a lot about our personal finances. Fifty per cent feel frustrated, 47 per cent feel emotionally drained and 43 per cent feel depressed. There is not one survey indicator to suggest Canadians have made financial progress in 2025 compared with 2024.
…
Our debt-to-household disposable income has bumped up against nearly 200 per cent for years now, putting Canada in first place among G7 countries. Canada’s is 185 per cent; the average for all G7 countries is 125 per cent according to Statistics Canada. Canadian households collectively owe about $3-trillion, almost three-quarters of it is mortgage debt.
…
Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it. The housing crisis hasn’t just hobbled the hopes of many Canadians seeking affordable housing; it is undercutting middle-class living standards.
…
That thinking of retirement provokes anxiety in surveys on the matter shouldn’t be surprising. It is one more item on a growing list of aspirations many Canadians cannot afford.
Opinion: Canada, prepare for a decade of thrift and lower living standards
Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it
The Globe and Mail (www.theglobeandmail.com)
Fifty per cent feel frustrated, 47 per cent feel emotionally drained and 43 per cent feel depressed.
I have a hard time believing that the other half is totally fine. Perhaps they just normalized debt so they’ve become numb to it?
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Fifty per cent feel frustrated, 47 per cent feel emotionally drained and 43 per cent feel depressed.
I have a hard time believing that the other half is totally fine. Perhaps they just normalized debt so they’ve become numb to it?
Other categories may include
- “suicidal”,
- “enraged”,
- “planning class warfare”,
- “gave up, now living under a bridge”,
- “feeling pretty good about that house I bought in 2002”, and
- “my REITs are doing pretty well, thank you”.
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EAT THE RICH! Tax the rich, if they resist seize their assets and drive them into poverty. There should be no billionaires.
Compared to the world they inflict on humanity en mass NOTHING you can do to a billionaire or their property is a crime.
They’re rich on leverage, as their debts were inflated away, and their assets were bailed out. This is what loose monetary policy and bailouts leads to. Our Federal Government and the Bank of Canada are the ones ultimately causing it.
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Other categories may include
- “suicidal”,
- “enraged”,
- “planning class warfare”,
- “gave up, now living under a bridge”,
- “feeling pretty good about that house I bought in 2002”, and
- “my REITs are doing pretty well, thank you”.
“planning class warfare”, “gave up, now living under a bridge”,
Worthy life goals.
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“planning class warfare”, “gave up, now living under a bridge”,
Worthy life goals.
Aspirational, even.
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They’re rich on leverage, as their debts were inflated away, and their assets were bailed out. This is what loose monetary policy and bailouts leads to. Our Federal Government and the Bank of Canada are the ones ultimately causing it.
While I agree that there’s an issue, I think just saying it’s the federal government’s fault is a bit unreasonable. It’s all government’s fault provincial, municipal federal caving to doner pressures and not doing what is best for most Canadians.
Beyond that it’s an issue for most countries in the world right now since it’s also a global issue.
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Fine by me, but much of the op-ed refers to the housing crisis.
The housing crisis has been brought on by middle class tax policy, a lack of public housing construction, NIMBYism, financialization of housing (significantly by the middle class, although REITs have been getting involved recently), poorly planned immigration/international student policies, and the decline of skilled/unskilled trades (probably related to education, minimum wage, and tax policy). You can also add shitty transit/city planning to that mix, if you’re in to that kind of thing.
It would be fair to tax the rich more, and it would probably make sense to tax gainz on housing/real estate more aggressively. However, there is a massive failure of planning at all levels of Canadian government won’t be solved through simple adjustments to personal taxation.
Well, if you gave me a bunch of a billionaire’s money I’d build a few places to live.
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While I agree that there’s an issue, I think just saying it’s the federal government’s fault is a bit unreasonable. It’s all government’s fault provincial, municipal federal caving to doner pressures and not doing what is best for most Canadians.
Beyond that it’s an issue for most countries in the world right now since it’s also a global issue.
Though the Feds can run large deficits to feed into the riches assets. Which the BoC buys the bonds to increase the money supply to avoid raising taxes to pay for it, like they’re doing with mortgage bonds now to inflate home values.
Operational Details for Government Purchases of Canada Mortgage Bonds
In the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, the Canadian government announced its intention to purchase Canada Mortgage Bonds (CMBs), beginning in 2024, up to an annual maximum of $30 billion while ensuring that the pace and volume of these purchases are appropriate for market conditions.
(www.bankofcanada.ca)
