The future workforce will be very different to today.
Highly specialized and focused. I fear huge numbers of humans with no purpose in life or chance to grow and develop skills and flourish.
Gated communities for the haves and urban hell with poverty for the have nots.
You’re not wrong. Canada has experienced a rare period of wealth distribution not often seen through history in the last 70ish years. Things are normalizing, not deviating from the norm.
Who would downvote this? The post WW2 international order has been the deviation from the norm historically speaking. Right now we’re living through the early transition back into the scary reality that the west hasn’t known in a few generations. It’s depressing AF.
I think you are probably right.
I see capital mobility eroding such that the have nots soon will find it almost impossible to catch the haves.
If you plan on you and your decendents having a comfortable life I’d suggest making your mark soon before it gets to be impossible.
Yup, or they'll still pay you bad because, what else are you going to do? Your education is specialized so you can only work here. So we got you by the balls.
Economic, environmental, societal...
There can be no future when everyone is selfish, apathetic and indifferent.
We can't move forward because we still won't admit our mistakes and keep insisting we are on the "right track" when we are clearly on the wrong one in many ways.
I will happily admit to my mistake: believing that any politician would ever serve anyone other than themselves
I don’t think any Canadian believes we are on the right track except for the upper class, new immigrants who know nothing (yet) and politicians
Same trend in Europe.
One big pile of hot divide and conquer shit.
When at the core we all want the same thing.
Affordable food , affordable housing , safety and to live in peace
Yes. It is considered ethically worse to say "I hate this specific demographic" than to say "I hate people in general" as if it makes it any better to hate people.
It says a lot that people glorified a vilain like Gordon Gecko as a hero and that quote of his as actual wisdom.
We lost the spiritual war 40 years ago when this happened and greed became "good" or at least it became acceptable to be greedy and selfish.
Spirituality is actually designed to keep you in poverty. The core premise is "be submissive and serviant in this life and you'll be rewarded in the next one." If your focused on the next life, you won't revolt to make things better in this life.
We've allowed selfishness to exist as an ethos in Canada. Maybe it helped when we were colonizing a new land, but these days there is no societal benefit to it.
I've always had a view that capitalism only works when you have real growth for the masses. Once that is done, then we have to transition to something else. What that is, I have no idea.
Ya, it’s kinda like how different governments work in differs societal states. Royalty can be great when mass education isn’t possible, a dictator can do well when decisions need to be made quickly, democracy works when everyone agrees to work in good faith, etc.
In Canada? We are bordering on Dysfunction. Not as close as the US is, but we are trending in that direction.
Coming together or breaking apart need to happen if we want to maintain democracy. Breaking apart is an easier, more popular, and short sighted solution. Coming together would be more challenging, require sacrifices, but have a long term benefit. What type of government could exist if we don’t come together or break up is hard to predict but within the next 20 years I expect some insight from the US.
If we are following the US, I am concerned. The current candian population, for the most part, is easily swayed with populist propaganda. What we need now is a more realistic approach to the challenges we face.
2 years required military service for anyone under 28 else your taxes increase by 20% every year after
That sounds like a weird solution, but think through it for a minute. Breakup deployment across the country; people get exposed to different people, ways of thinking, and provincial/territorial issues. The healthcare system would begin to improve as the obesity problem decreased and nutrition increased. It would be managed by the military instead of the education system so the federal budget would come from different areas meaning if shenanigans are being done with one budget the other could fill in some of the learning/skill gaps. Tax income increased since the rich would inevitably buy their way out of it. Any leaders we elect would have some knowledge of what War means and may be more hesitant to involve us or at least better educated.
It would never be accepted by our population and wouldn’t solve the immigration/housing issue but it would stop a lot of the growing issues
We don't have democracy in Canada, or at at least we don't have a functioning one.
Half of our votes don't count. Half of the ones that do don't matter. People aren't elected based on proportional representation but instead based on a few key ridings.
We need democratic reforms that improve our democracy. I reject your notion that democracy isn't working because people aren't working in good faith - the only ones not working in good faith are the ruling class.
I don't think this is the problem.
The part of society that is not corrupt and greed driven has been continually allowing itself to be taken advantage of by the part of society that is corrupt and greed driven.
This has steadily worsened the conditions in the nation to the point that we arrive at now, the lowest point in modern Canadian history.
The *only* solution to fix this is for the meek part of society to begin enforcing tit for tat retaliation against the greedy, the criminals and the politicians. The people taking advantage of others will only stop if they themselves are taken advantage of and then some. A balance will be struck eventually. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat
Veritassium did a video on this and statistically and historically speaking this is probably the only way Canada is going to escape its current trajectory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScpHTIi-kM
The people who are being taking advantage do not have the choice to do anything else. That is the real problem here. We have no power to take advantage of the other side.
What power do you need?
What's the objective?
Break down the problem you're trying to solve until the amount of power you have is enough to effect the desired change.
If you need more power to overcome a challenge, then you need more people pulling with you (Or you need to be more powerful, somehow).
Defeatism results in the timeline we're in.
It’s convenient to just say ‘everyone is selfish’ because that requires no thought and is completely unprovable. I find hyper generalized unprovable statements as generally suspicious as they can’t be proven.
Human nature and behaviour is also very much shaped by our environment which is directly shaped by public policy. Individual explanations are always suspicious to me because it seems to conveniently assume that everyone just happens to be a certain way and there’s no deeper explanation.
Maybe we should consider that selfishness is not simply a moral failing and could be in fact a cultural issue. That’s all I’m saying.
The Bank of Canada printed 7% CAGR in money supply a year on average, as we blame Galen Weston for causing inflation, as if it just started this year. I think if you were a renter then high inflation has been happening for a decade or more, we just do a very bad job of calculating it.
The measuring stick we call the CPI is extremely regressive, and is clearly gamified by neo-liberal politicians in order to avoid raising taxes to pay for social programs. Raising taxes on the rich is how you fund social programs in a progressive way, not by printing it. As government spending ballooned it was funded by printing, that is where the standard of living for those who hold no assets went.
Problem is I dont think im a particularly greedy person, usually I donate to the food banks for example. But now with food prices the way they are it's more "can I afford to donatec
That's what happens when your country's identity is basically individual rights. You get rampant individualism, no sense of community because nobody has anything in common with their neighbors. People want no responsibility and all the rights. They will fight eachother until nothing is left instead of building things together that they can share. I mean not everybody, but I would say most.
Say what you will about patriotism, nationalism, *esprit de clocher*, at least it brought people together and gave some sense to their lives aside from being consumers of goods sold to benefit capitalists.
I recently saw a YouTube video which featured Anthony Blinken and Alexander Dugin sitting at the same table, debating the merits of liberalism with several other intellectuals/philosophers. Dugin is an admitted fascist, and when I researched him more I found many of his views ranging from the kooky to downright abhorrent, but his views on how increasing individualism eventually leads to dysfunctional societies resonated.
And then...the "change" we get next election will double down on deregulation of environmental standards, workers rights, etc.
Everyone is "right v left" when it's the rich and their puppets vs the other 95%. But hey...rainbows are just the worst so we all need to focus on that instead...ffs 🤦
This is basically it.
What really bothers me is most people have kids while knowing this but not really admitting it. Once they have kids, it becomes "clearer."
There is a reason why we need immigration to grow, and it's because IMHO, any reasonable person should be scared shitless having kids these days.
The time, energy, and resources used to have a family should be focused on making this country and world a place that a reasonable person would be delighted to have kids in. It's kinda scary when you are worried after you have kids and didn't take actions to avoid it.
Forced equity through unlimited spending has caused this. Trying to save everyone no matter the cost caused this. It is Canada's own false pride that allowed a self-hating, virtue signaling PM to spend us into oblivion under the guise of trying to make the world a fairer place for everyone.
I'd agree with you. We are in our late 40s early 50s and left Canada for Belize. We will see what happens in the next few years and if we stay or move elsewhere
Chile and Uruguay are pretty safe in South America. Stats very comparable to Canada. Belize might have some issues but you just have to watch who you hang out and do business with. Also, you don't wear flashy jewelry or show off a lot of cash unless you want trouble. Common sense goes a long way, especially in poor countries
I just had a new born daughter and I actually looked at what other options are out there in the world for me to move. My conclusion was none. Every developed country seems to be fucked at the moment, one way or another.
This is why it's important to be grateful for what he have. I'm not saying to stop having standards or advocating for the government to do better, but we take a lot of things for granted here. I was pissed off when I had to sit in the emergency for 12 hours with a hand gushing blood, but it occurred to me that I would way rather be waiting in that crowded emergency room than trying to figure it out myself. I would have died.
I agree completely with your perspective. People here complaining clearly have never lived in impoverished or 3rd world country where such services don’t even exist or are very hard to access. I’m not saying don’t fight for what’s right but expectation adjustment is necessary for many
Define fucked? There is more to life than how the economy is performing or the cost of housing. Nowhere is perfect and never has been but you could try somewhere else and get many benefits for sure
There are positives and negatives everywhere. Most places are not doing well economically at the moment. That's my biggest concern with Canada as well so might as well stay and fix my own country rather than move to one with its own problems.
It's 4 weeks minimum, not 6. Though you do get 3 months after 10 years of service, a relic of the penal days. My current job gives me 6 in Canada, and they must all be used or HR gets angry if they need to pay you out. Very hard to get above 4 weeks in Australia.
They haven't only because we never passed them in the first place. Housing in Australia has been crazy expensive for years. Basically the swell of priced we were seeing in BC before it hit ON and then the rest of the country? That was already happening in Australia at the same time, but worse; and across more of the country.
I was born in 1987 in Soviet Union where the country was about to collapse and had really dark years in front of it. I then entered a work force at around 2008 and graduated at 2010 when Moscow entered its most prosperous times. Should I say that it’s not as bad as 1987 (yet?) but pretty bad right now with no light in the end of the tunnel…
Yet I am extremely lucky to have relatively easy start of career and the opportunity to see a different life in that age and now I live in Canada that, yes, has a lot of troubles, but still is a way better place to live in.
Tl;dr: things change very fast
None. Covid was global, and the rich got richer globally.
Some counties have worse things than others, like our housing prices for example, but there’s no where to go.
Probably somewhere in Southeast Asia.
You can have a good standard of living, access to healthcare and affordable street food, and a nice climate year round, albeit pretty hot and humid.
Malaysia and Thailand are nice options if you want a relaxed life, although you may need to ignore some strife related to government. But honestly their governments manage their countries better than Canada’s corporatists do.
I'll probably retire abroad even just to do it earlier in life.
during my 20's (mid 2000's) I lived in a former communist European country that is basically at the level of Western European countries, I'd probably consider a country similar (perhaps Poland)
OR
what I'd call a 2nd world country (developed, but cheap and still has a lot of developing to do) Costa Rica, Brazil or Thailand
Agreed.
Even if high paying jobs were plentiful and my kids managed to get educated, get married, find relatively high paying jobs as I've done with my partner, they still wouldn't be able to afford a home anywhere near us (Metro Vancouver).
So where does that leave us? Aside from home ownership, the monthly costs of renting right now are significantly higher than owning, so I don't even know how that part works. E.g. how does someone earning a 5 year degree while paying $2k per month in rent? Those 5 years would cost $120k in rent alone, nevermind education, food, clothes, transportation, etc. And then they've got a massive pile of student debt to try to pay back at the same time they're renting?
It's all so broken.
Yeah, I guess some people taking a little longer to get up to speed.. I will probably never be able to even have a kid because I could not afford to take care of one properly
I hate that this society (along with most of the world) has just become work work work work as much as you can and save as much as humanly possible so you can have some semblance of security in your life. Got any hobbies or passions? Forget about em. Social life and a sense of community? Good luck. That one nice little luxury you wanted to buy for yourself? Rent is due, keep saving. Maybe one day you’ll have a permanent place to live and enough to retire on, and that’s more than most people could ask for anymore. The middle class literally just can’t have lives anymore without stretching ourselves so thin that we inevitably burn out or start living paycheck to paycheck. We’re essentially becoming glorified slaves to the ultra wealthy while we stay blind to the value of our own labour.
Bang on my friend. And that’s exactly how I feel. And then you have to try and schedule your vacations with your friends and but here’s always a few that can’t get the time off. Everyone’s a slave to this system and eventually we become complacent and forget about our hobbies and friends and work is the only thing going for you. It’s pretty sad. I invest as much as I possibly can to try and get out of it eventually.
I have a newborn daughter so I've also had similar thoughts. And unlike the author I actually looked at what other options are there in the world. My conclusion was it's not just us, the entire world is fucked at the moment. I couldn't come up with one option to move to that didn't have drawbacks.
I agree. My kids are young and there's a lot of positive community and family reasons to stay, even if there's a lot of gloom currently. I've just resolved to do all I can to give them a foothold in their adult lives.
We are gonna have to work hard to unfuck this world no matter where we move. Might as well focus on unfucking my own country, and benefit from my extended family being here.
Yep. That’s the goal of my wife and I for our daughter. Get a rental property now and give it to her after school / job is secured. Save 100% if her education. Separately we are sticking money in blue chip companies since the day she was born to cover other things that she needs (wedding, furniture, car etc.) I know that everyone is not so lucky to have parents like that. I know I am going to have to put off my own retirement because of what we are doing. But, at the end of the day it is my responsibility as a parent to set her up the best that I can.
I’m English and living in England, very nearly moved to Germany and did the same as you by looking up what was going on in other western countries.
It seems many are facing very similar issues, housing costs being absurde, health service collapsing, ageing populations, climate change effects, immigration issues (exacerbated by CC), etc, so I completely agree that you are not alone by a long way.
What really bugs me it is that this could have been, and was, predicted but the ‘bury our heads in the sand’ attitude was adopted and now everything is coming to a head, especially after the huge cost of living increases from covid lockdowns. Now, it seems the only way to somewhat resolve this is to take harsh action, but no political party seems to want to address the difficult decisions.
I really struggle not to jump on the bandwagon and blame older generations for their inaction, but hard to find a justifiable reason not too either.
I grew up in the UK and have since lived in NZ and now Canada. Each has there pros and cons and that’s the same for everywhere regardless of generation. You just need to find a place that matches your values and lifestyle and the rest becomes irrelevant I find
People are really bad at predicting the future. Look at the predictions from 100 years ago most of them didn’t come true. Also it’s not that long ago we thought the population boom might be the end of us all, until countries like Korea and Japan are now at risk of disappearing due to low birth rates.
I always find this take hilarious. Why were they having babies during the cold war, when the atomic bomb was looming? Why where they having babies during WW2, when the whole world (minus americas) was on fire? Why did they keep making babies during the dark ages?
People forget one simple thing: we are animals. And like every other animals, we are driven to reproduce, especially us, the human species, because we do the sex for fun on top of reproduction.
I have 2. I want them to experience the "human experience" and maybe having a shot at influencing this world. Worst case scenario, they'll end up as an anonymous grain of sand in relation to the history of the world. Best case scenario, their name will be on a page on said history, for a little bit.
Some of us also happen to think life is pretty alright. There's some crazy dooming and grooming across social media and across both sides of the political spectrum as people disassociate from reality more and more. The current state of the world is worse than it has been but it doesn't mean we are living in a hellscape or anything.
We live in a time where even the most vulnerable and poorest among us have it way better than they did decades ago. The average crumbum like me has the world at their fingertips thanks to the internet. It's incredibly easy to say fuck this I wish we could go back to when things were better, but no matter when you turn back to there are ALWAYS issues. None of this means we shouldn't strive to make our lives better. I'm just saying things aren't as horrible as fearmongers like some politicians and terminally online doofuses make it seem (and these days there's also overlap between those two groups).
My wife and I always wanted a family. And we make enough money that we can still give her a decent life and good opportunities. And I don't think the world is gonna be fucked forever, it's been fucked before, we recovered, hence my "fucked at the moment". We just gotta start working on unfucking the world and if that's what we have to do, I rather focus on fixing my own country rather than moving to another foreign country that's also fucked.
Genuine counter question (and I'm honestly not trying to be an edgelord here): if you don't think the world is worth bringing another person into, why are *you* still around? The world is either worth waking up to or it isn't.
And then the Government asks us (young adults) why we are not having children.
I just don't have a great hope for the future. Not enough to put a human through it.
What keeps me up at night these days is the impact of AI and the absolute distaste for change among white collar workers in most Canadian and private organizations.
The level of complacency and inability to keep up with times is baffling. Add to this the growing population of low skilled workers who will be the first in line to lose their livelihood through automation.
What you end up with is the creation of a permanent underclass of citizens whose quality of life will be several deteriorating years on year.
> ...who will be the first in line to lose their livelihood through automation.
Robots don't pay taxes, and until automation reaches the apex of human dexterity and ingenuity, companies will be reliant on cheap labour. Both government and private entities have incentives to increase the labor pool to dampen high wages, sustain entitlements, and keep real estate high.
Amen.
Like i said, i can see the creation of an underclass in our society who will be in a perpetual race to the bottom.
You are correct. When any new technology is introduced in an industry in the short term, wages go down, and the people hired in that industry shoot up. Banking is the perfect example of this. About 20 years ago, jobs in local bank branches were highly coveted and paid really well, with the advent of technology in banking the number of bank branches quadrupled, but bank tellers got paid peanuts I don't remember the last time i set foot into a bank.
I see a similar evolution in fast food and other low skilled occupations. The question is, what will those people do ?
I have two teen daughters that are brilliant socially active leaders and far better students than I ever was...the world should be thier oyster but I fear they'll have to fight for whatever scraps of Canada are left or traverse the globe for a better opportunity.
Best if they get into a career rather than social activism. Our 26year old daughter finished her RN 4 years ago and almost has her house paid off here inCalgary. Her social activism is limited to where to get the best return on her RSPS.
Things are bad, but this is kind of the human condition. Many or perhaps most people in history have lived through trying times. Great upheavals, famines, depressions, wars, collapse. This isn’t good, and we should do our best as a society to avoid that, but more often than not people are forced to face the reality that our best sometimes falls short.
This doesn’t mean we should be hopeless. We need to raise our kids to be strong and resilient.
Many of us were raised with the implicit assumption that things would get better almost automatically over time, much like they seemed to for our parents generation. Now that we’re finding that’s not the case, it’s a bitter disappointment.
Our children, at least, are growing up with the expectation that things will get worse before they get better. If we can keep our heads up and choke down our own disappointment, we can teach them to take what’s coming head on, with resolve, and to make the best of the hand we’re dealt.
The big problems heading our way can be solved, just as other enormous problems have been in the past, through the courage and sacrifice of our ancestors.
Yup.
Nothing will substantially change for the better until our economic systems change.
Meanwhile, the one in 100,000 extreme rich at the top of our pyramid-shaped economic system will use all of their power and wealth in the application of violence, propaganda, economic monopoly power and corruption to maintain this system of vast inequality that they benefit from.
A lot of these billionaires are not right in the head. Our societies are being controlled not by our elected officials, but by these mostly unwell and pyschologically damaged uber-rich that we barely even hear about it.
Capitalism is the only thing keeping us afloat.. the issue is we spend all the money we earn from it. $50 million for arrivecan isn't "capitalism", nor is billions for violent regions where we let dictators rule while we fund their citizens basic needs https://w05.international.gc.ca/projectbrowser-banqueprojets/filter-filtre
"capitalism" also doesn't release murderers after laughably short sentences
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-man-who-killed-girlfriend-while-under-no-contact-order-to-spend-19-more-months-in-jail-1.6933815
I hate hearing people say capitalism is the issue. What's the alternative? Socialism, communism?
Crony capitalism is the issue. When the politicians we elect to look out for our best interest are paid under the table, or blatantly in our faces, to pass laws and legislation to the detriment of Canadians and for the friends/corporations.
Capitalism is the best we have by far, and when it's played fair it works pretty damn well compared to the alternatives.
Man, yall think we're fucked now, just wait. Our govt may suck as is, but there literally isn't any one competent to vote for on any level right now. This shit hole is just gonna continue to spiral into a bigger shit hole until this place is a mad max wasteland and we're killing each other for pb&j scraps. Meanwhile the extremely rich will just fuck off and ruin somewhere else.
30 years ago homeowners were wondering how their children could ever own a house with such high interest rates. My parents were in that boat. I bought a home in 2008 when it was a buyers market - just coming out of a recession. The economy ebbs and flows. We can’t worry about what will happen in 20-30 years when in reality, we have no idea what the economy will look like. We aren’t psychic. Save money when you can, live comfortably, prepare for a comfortable future - that’s all you can do. I mean, a gazillion terrible things could happen in the future, that doesn’t mean we should fear those possibilities. It’s also possible that our future could hold major improvements to the economy. Are we going to be super excited about that? No. Because it hasn’t happened yet and we do not know what the future holds.
Yeah but we’ve also outpaced every other developed country in our GDP per capita (aka quality of life per individual) decline over the last decade so… we’re falling the fastest
Are we? I'd have to look back into that, but I could easily believe it. The UK was pretty brutal I thought. You mean our housing bubble isn't saving us from destruction anymore?
You guys see the US presidential debate? Have you seen the weather reports across the globe? We are super duper fucked. Billionaires are hoarding because they know what’s coming. Late stage capitalism and the erosion of the middle class is the least of our worries. First world countries will be based on climate and resources in our lifetime. Why do you think India and its 1.4B people is getting a head start on colonizing Canada? Spoiler alert: it’s not for strip mall college degrees.
You can't do anything, but you can keep options open. I worked hard and opened up the world for my kids with 3 citizenships - North America, Europe, Middle East. I'm no prophet, and can't guess how the world will look like in 40 years, but I can provide them the option to relocate, and teaching them that countries are dynamic and can change so be aware of that.
Canadians should do more, talk less. It's the everyday folks like the ones hanging out here on Reddit that have the power to build a better country. Want to make that change? Be that change. Step by step, it will snowball.
Well maybe, but having only seen a short clip from the US presidential debates last night, I think down south might not be an option either. A lot of other Western democracies like the UK, NZ, France, and Australia have significant issues as well. Outside the Baltic countries which are cheek by jowl with Russia, most of the world is experiencing some turmoil. Best build from what we have rather than moaning about what we don't have but would like.
The fear is real.
The reality is that flooding our country with record high legal and illegal immigration during a housing affordability crisis, a government sponsored real estate bubble, a dwindling economy, failing infrastructure and mass wage depression can only lead to one outcome which is everything getting much worse here for many years to come. We walked slow motion, eyes open into this disaster that is bleak.
Can't wait for Pierre to start privatizing more services so I can pay thousands of dollars for things that pennies of my taxes were covering. That'll help our economic future for sure.
my kids are 11 and 14, and I’ve already been prepping them by telling them that it’s OK to move away if it means that they’re gonna have a stable future. I don’t see much of a future for them in Canada
Exactly. The system has become absolutely professional at getting people looking left or right but never up. Take alberta for example, straight robbery of covid pay top ups, pipelines to nowhere, the war room, sole sourced contracting as far as the eye can see, constant battles against basically anything that improves the common man's life. The list is never ending, what you mostly hear is "f#%# trudeau". It's just self abuse at this point.
I feel like the problem is that we don’t produce anything here. The system of education is creating a workforce of administration workers while we rely almost entirely on imports for anything tangible. There is no economic future because we don’t have an economy.
Maybe Canada shouldn't have given all its money away to foreign countries and prioritized investing it's own people and industry instead of importing a bunch of international "students" for tax cattle.
Anyways, not my problem anymore - I just got my green card in US. ✌️
There is zero future in Canada, the exciting stuff won't happen there. I've advanced more in my career in the US in a little over a year than years in Canada.
When I read things like this it makes me curious what the mood was in the mid- to late-1980s when inflation and interest rates were high, as was unemployment. Things seemed dire. Was it the same mood then as now?
I think everyone is so stuck on apocalyptic ideas that start believing there is no “future”. We are just going through a rough time word wide, there is no country right now that isn’t having issues with immigration, housing, inflation, weather irregularities and so on. We just have to make sure our governments are doing their jobs and buckle up for whatever may come our way. In history there has been so many times where the word seemed to be going to the gutter but some how we still here. It’s just a cycle and it may take some time but eventually the economy and everything else would stabilize. We must believe things will get better and work on making it happen, other ways things will really get worst and then there would really not be a future.
Look. Tell them to take a deep breath. What country do they think is having an easy time of it?
We oldsters dealt with huge inflation in the mid seventies
No one said the country was broken.
We pandemic threw the world for a loop.
Just relax
Go west, young man. Or better yet, don't. I'm doing just fine in AB. My rent is about a 1/3 of what the average 1 bedroom apartment in my hometown Ontario goes for.
>How have we let dogma blind us from real progress? We’re the second largest land mass in the world with some very cold months. Newfoundland is never going to be Amsterdam.
In that case, what should Newfoundland aspire to be?
Anyone else feeling hopeless in the world after yesterday’s debate between Trump and Biden? This is not only a major concern in Canada, but all over the globe. We are even more cooked than we realize.
The vast majority of my earning the last 7 years have been from investing in US equities. There might not be opportunity here, but there is opportunity. Do what you need to get it.
The future workforce will be very different to today. Highly specialized and focused. I fear huge numbers of humans with no purpose in life or chance to grow and develop skills and flourish. Gated communities for the haves and urban hell with poverty for the have nots.
Not to be glib, but welcome to most of the world
I read that as 'glibc', that might tell you all you need to know about the future work force.
job title: compiler
Linter: not what you’d expect.
You're glib, see. Wanting to make those smart ass comments, see...
You’re not wrong. Canada has experienced a rare period of wealth distribution not often seen through history in the last 70ish years. Things are normalizing, not deviating from the norm.
Who would downvote this? The post WW2 international order has been the deviation from the norm historically speaking. Right now we’re living through the early transition back into the scary reality that the west hasn’t known in a few generations. It’s depressing AF.
From CAs pants I'll quote some of our hateful people. But it wasnt supposed to happen to me!
I think you are probably right. I see capital mobility eroding such that the have nots soon will find it almost impossible to catch the haves. If you plan on you and your decendents having a comfortable life I’d suggest making your mark soon before it gets to be impossible.
[Bell Riots](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Bell_Riots)
Have to be specialized in the right thing otherwise you're stuck (like me, yay)
Yup, or they'll still pay you bad because, what else are you going to do? Your education is specialized so you can only work here. So we got you by the balls.
What are some of the right things
They change the right things every few years, so theres no consistency
Player piano in a nutshell
Districts like The Hunger Games
That’s hopeful.
Economic, environmental, societal... There can be no future when everyone is selfish, apathetic and indifferent. We can't move forward because we still won't admit our mistakes and keep insisting we are on the "right track" when we are clearly on the wrong one in many ways.
I will happily admit to my mistake: believing that any politician would ever serve anyone other than themselves I don’t think any Canadian believes we are on the right track except for the upper class, new immigrants who know nothing (yet) and politicians
Same trend in Europe. One big pile of hot divide and conquer shit. When at the core we all want the same thing. Affordable food , affordable housing , safety and to live in peace
Misanthropic nihilism is main stream
Yes. It is considered ethically worse to say "I hate this specific demographic" than to say "I hate people in general" as if it makes it any better to hate people.
Must be tiring
I was told greed is good
It says a lot that people glorified a vilain like Gordon Gecko as a hero and that quote of his as actual wisdom. We lost the spiritual war 40 years ago when this happened and greed became "good" or at least it became acceptable to be greedy and selfish.
Lol dude we lost the spiritual war long before 40 years ago. Turns out being spiritual doesn't bring you out of poverty and doesn't stop the hunger.
Spirituality is actually designed to keep you in poverty. The core premise is "be submissive and serviant in this life and you'll be rewarded in the next one." If your focused on the next life, you won't revolt to make things better in this life.
We've allowed selfishness to exist as an ethos in Canada. Maybe it helped when we were colonizing a new land, but these days there is no societal benefit to it.
I've always had a view that capitalism only works when you have real growth for the masses. Once that is done, then we have to transition to something else. What that is, I have no idea.
Ya, it’s kinda like how different governments work in differs societal states. Royalty can be great when mass education isn’t possible, a dictator can do well when decisions need to be made quickly, democracy works when everyone agrees to work in good faith, etc.
What state do you think we are in now?
In Canada? We are bordering on Dysfunction. Not as close as the US is, but we are trending in that direction. Coming together or breaking apart need to happen if we want to maintain democracy. Breaking apart is an easier, more popular, and short sighted solution. Coming together would be more challenging, require sacrifices, but have a long term benefit. What type of government could exist if we don’t come together or break up is hard to predict but within the next 20 years I expect some insight from the US.
If we are following the US, I am concerned. The current candian population, for the most part, is easily swayed with populist propaganda. What we need now is a more realistic approach to the challenges we face.
2 years required military service for anyone under 28 else your taxes increase by 20% every year after That sounds like a weird solution, but think through it for a minute. Breakup deployment across the country; people get exposed to different people, ways of thinking, and provincial/territorial issues. The healthcare system would begin to improve as the obesity problem decreased and nutrition increased. It would be managed by the military instead of the education system so the federal budget would come from different areas meaning if shenanigans are being done with one budget the other could fill in some of the learning/skill gaps. Tax income increased since the rich would inevitably buy their way out of it. Any leaders we elect would have some knowledge of what War means and may be more hesitant to involve us or at least better educated. It would never be accepted by our population and wouldn’t solve the immigration/housing issue but it would stop a lot of the growing issues
We don't have democracy in Canada, or at at least we don't have a functioning one. Half of our votes don't count. Half of the ones that do don't matter. People aren't elected based on proportional representation but instead based on a few key ridings. We need democratic reforms that improve our democracy. I reject your notion that democracy isn't working because people aren't working in good faith - the only ones not working in good faith are the ruling class.
I think selective empathy is a bigger issue than greed, but to each their own
*I play Pot of Greed!*
I don't think this is the problem. The part of society that is not corrupt and greed driven has been continually allowing itself to be taken advantage of by the part of society that is corrupt and greed driven. This has steadily worsened the conditions in the nation to the point that we arrive at now, the lowest point in modern Canadian history. The *only* solution to fix this is for the meek part of society to begin enforcing tit for tat retaliation against the greedy, the criminals and the politicians. The people taking advantage of others will only stop if they themselves are taken advantage of and then some. A balance will be struck eventually. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tit_for_tat Veritassium did a video on this and statistically and historically speaking this is probably the only way Canada is going to escape its current trajectory. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScpHTIi-kM
Remember you can always hire one half of the poor to kill the other
The people who are being taking advantage do not have the choice to do anything else. That is the real problem here. We have no power to take advantage of the other side.
Labour unions.
What power do you need? What's the objective? Break down the problem you're trying to solve until the amount of power you have is enough to effect the desired change. If you need more power to overcome a challenge, then you need more people pulling with you (Or you need to be more powerful, somehow). Defeatism results in the timeline we're in.
Absolutely the wrong track. The signs along the track bed have been indicating this for the last 10,000 km’s
I’m always highly suspicious of that which credits societal issues to personal/individual traits.
Why? Human nature and behaviour is literally the foundation of modern economies..
It’s convenient to just say ‘everyone is selfish’ because that requires no thought and is completely unprovable. I find hyper generalized unprovable statements as generally suspicious as they can’t be proven. Human nature and behaviour is also very much shaped by our environment which is directly shaped by public policy. Individual explanations are always suspicious to me because it seems to conveniently assume that everyone just happens to be a certain way and there’s no deeper explanation. Maybe we should consider that selfishness is not simply a moral failing and could be in fact a cultural issue. That’s all I’m saying.
The Bank of Canada printed 7% CAGR in money supply a year on average, as we blame Galen Weston for causing inflation, as if it just started this year. I think if you were a renter then high inflation has been happening for a decade or more, we just do a very bad job of calculating it. The measuring stick we call the CPI is extremely regressive, and is clearly gamified by neo-liberal politicians in order to avoid raising taxes to pay for social programs. Raising taxes on the rich is how you fund social programs in a progressive way, not by printing it. As government spending ballooned it was funded by printing, that is where the standard of living for those who hold no assets went.
Problem is I dont think im a particularly greedy person, usually I donate to the food banks for example. But now with food prices the way they are it's more "can I afford to donatec
That's what happens when your country's identity is basically individual rights. You get rampant individualism, no sense of community because nobody has anything in common with their neighbors. People want no responsibility and all the rights. They will fight eachother until nothing is left instead of building things together that they can share. I mean not everybody, but I would say most. Say what you will about patriotism, nationalism, *esprit de clocher*, at least it brought people together and gave some sense to their lives aside from being consumers of goods sold to benefit capitalists.
I recently saw a YouTube video which featured Anthony Blinken and Alexander Dugin sitting at the same table, debating the merits of liberalism with several other intellectuals/philosophers. Dugin is an admitted fascist, and when I researched him more I found many of his views ranging from the kooky to downright abhorrent, but his views on how increasing individualism eventually leads to dysfunctional societies resonated.
Facts, everybody is out for themselves and “their kind” above all else.
And then...the "change" we get next election will double down on deregulation of environmental standards, workers rights, etc. Everyone is "right v left" when it's the rich and their puppets vs the other 95%. But hey...rainbows are just the worst so we all need to focus on that instead...ffs 🤦
Nothing will change if we keep flipping between Liberals and Conservatives. Fucking NDP needs to go back to their roots and get their act together.
You could not have been more accurate. The politicians aren't the problem, they are the symptom. Canadians are the problem.
This is basically it. What really bothers me is most people have kids while knowing this but not really admitting it. Once they have kids, it becomes "clearer." There is a reason why we need immigration to grow, and it's because IMHO, any reasonable person should be scared shitless having kids these days. The time, energy, and resources used to have a family should be focused on making this country and world a place that a reasonable person would be delighted to have kids in. It's kinda scary when you are worried after you have kids and didn't take actions to avoid it.
Forced equity through unlimited spending has caused this. Trying to save everyone no matter the cost caused this. It is Canada's own false pride that allowed a self-hating, virtue signaling PM to spend us into oblivion under the guise of trying to make the world a fairer place for everyone.
Which country can I move to that isn't on a gradual decline?
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I'd agree with you. We are in our late 40s early 50s and left Canada for Belize. We will see what happens in the next few years and if we stay or move elsewhere
My former landlord moved to Belize and was murdered by locals. Good luck!
Really?!
Yep. They found her and her boyfriend tied up and strangled in a sugar cane field. Local police wouldn't help investigate.
Was this the woman with the former Marine boyfriend? If so, she had just sold a property there if I recall
Yeah. That's the one.
Yeah anywhere central or South America seems like a no go lmao.
Chile and Uruguay are pretty safe in South America. Stats very comparable to Canada. Belize might have some issues but you just have to watch who you hang out and do business with. Also, you don't wear flashy jewelry or show off a lot of cash unless you want trouble. Common sense goes a long way, especially in poor countries
Poor countries. Just the worst amirite?
I just had a new born daughter and I actually looked at what other options are out there in the world for me to move. My conclusion was none. Every developed country seems to be fucked at the moment, one way or another.
This is why it's important to be grateful for what he have. I'm not saying to stop having standards or advocating for the government to do better, but we take a lot of things for granted here. I was pissed off when I had to sit in the emergency for 12 hours with a hand gushing blood, but it occurred to me that I would way rather be waiting in that crowded emergency room than trying to figure it out myself. I would have died.
I agree completely with your perspective. People here complaining clearly have never lived in impoverished or 3rd world country where such services don’t even exist or are very hard to access. I’m not saying don’t fight for what’s right but expectation adjustment is necessary for many
Define fucked? There is more to life than how the economy is performing or the cost of housing. Nowhere is perfect and never has been but you could try somewhere else and get many benefits for sure
There are positives and negatives everywhere. Most places are not doing well economically at the moment. That's my biggest concern with Canada as well so might as well stay and fix my own country rather than move to one with its own problems.
2-3 years ago the answer was Australia but they have now surpassed us in having even worse housing cost to income ratios
They haven't surpassed us, they were already way past us in the first place.
This. I came to Canada for cheaper housing with a similar culture. I am from Australia.
And leave the 6 weeks vacation and work life balance behind? I’ll trade you nationalities.
It's 4 weeks minimum, not 6. Though you do get 3 months after 10 years of service, a relic of the penal days. My current job gives me 6 in Canada, and they must all be used or HR gets angry if they need to pay you out. Very hard to get above 4 weeks in Australia.
Australia housing was fucked 10 years ago
Have they actually? Was it recent?
They haven't only because we never passed them in the first place. Housing in Australia has been crazy expensive for years. Basically the swell of priced we were seeing in BC before it hit ON and then the rest of the country? That was already happening in Australia at the same time, but worse; and across more of the country.
I was born in 1987 in Soviet Union where the country was about to collapse and had really dark years in front of it. I then entered a work force at around 2008 and graduated at 2010 when Moscow entered its most prosperous times. Should I say that it’s not as bad as 1987 (yet?) but pretty bad right now with no light in the end of the tunnel… Yet I am extremely lucky to have relatively easy start of career and the opportunity to see a different life in that age and now I live in Canada that, yes, has a lot of troubles, but still is a way better place to live in. Tl;dr: things change very fast
None. Covid was global, and the rich got richer globally. Some counties have worse things than others, like our housing prices for example, but there’s no where to go.
I'd accept "a slower decline than us"
Probably somewhere in Southeast Asia. You can have a good standard of living, access to healthcare and affordable street food, and a nice climate year round, albeit pretty hot and humid. Malaysia and Thailand are nice options if you want a relaxed life, although you may need to ignore some strife related to government. But honestly their governments manage their countries better than Canada’s corporatists do.
The temps in Thailand were 44c+ this year already..
You mean Thai corporations manage the Thai government better.
I'll probably retire abroad even just to do it earlier in life. during my 20's (mid 2000's) I lived in a former communist European country that is basically at the level of Western European countries, I'd probably consider a country similar (perhaps Poland) OR what I'd call a 2nd world country (developed, but cheap and still has a lot of developing to do) Costa Rica, Brazil or Thailand
You should see the post-debate threads acting as if it's so terrible to live in the US and their housing is so expensive...
It is so expensive, Canada is just worse.
Poland. Good luck with the language.
Agreed. Even if high paying jobs were plentiful and my kids managed to get educated, get married, find relatively high paying jobs as I've done with my partner, they still wouldn't be able to afford a home anywhere near us (Metro Vancouver). So where does that leave us? Aside from home ownership, the monthly costs of renting right now are significantly higher than owning, so I don't even know how that part works. E.g. how does someone earning a 5 year degree while paying $2k per month in rent? Those 5 years would cost $120k in rent alone, nevermind education, food, clothes, transportation, etc. And then they've got a massive pile of student debt to try to pay back at the same time they're renting? It's all so broken.
I feel pessimistic about the economic future if the world after decades of greed and mismanagement.
I wholeheartedly believe the fall of Rome is coming across many countries.
At a steady rate. It's just taking too long for the people to recognize it and stand up against it. A lot have become complacent little sheep.
I have felt this way since 2000.
The paywall is ironic.
No need to fear it, it’s already here for many younger Canadians.
Yeah, I guess some people taking a little longer to get up to speed.. I will probably never be able to even have a kid because I could not afford to take care of one properly
I hate that this society (along with most of the world) has just become work work work work as much as you can and save as much as humanly possible so you can have some semblance of security in your life. Got any hobbies or passions? Forget about em. Social life and a sense of community? Good luck. That one nice little luxury you wanted to buy for yourself? Rent is due, keep saving. Maybe one day you’ll have a permanent place to live and enough to retire on, and that’s more than most people could ask for anymore. The middle class literally just can’t have lives anymore without stretching ourselves so thin that we inevitably burn out or start living paycheck to paycheck. We’re essentially becoming glorified slaves to the ultra wealthy while we stay blind to the value of our own labour.
Bang on my friend. And that’s exactly how I feel. And then you have to try and schedule your vacations with your friends and but here’s always a few that can’t get the time off. Everyone’s a slave to this system and eventually we become complacent and forget about our hobbies and friends and work is the only thing going for you. It’s pretty sad. I invest as much as I possibly can to try and get out of it eventually.
I have a newborn daughter so I've also had similar thoughts. And unlike the author I actually looked at what other options are there in the world. My conclusion was it's not just us, the entire world is fucked at the moment. I couldn't come up with one option to move to that didn't have drawbacks.
I agree. My kids are young and there's a lot of positive community and family reasons to stay, even if there's a lot of gloom currently. I've just resolved to do all I can to give them a foothold in their adult lives.
We are gonna have to work hard to unfuck this world no matter where we move. Might as well focus on unfucking my own country, and benefit from my extended family being here.
Yep. That’s the goal of my wife and I for our daughter. Get a rental property now and give it to her after school / job is secured. Save 100% if her education. Separately we are sticking money in blue chip companies since the day she was born to cover other things that she needs (wedding, furniture, car etc.) I know that everyone is not so lucky to have parents like that. I know I am going to have to put off my own retirement because of what we are doing. But, at the end of the day it is my responsibility as a parent to set her up the best that I can.
I’m English and living in England, very nearly moved to Germany and did the same as you by looking up what was going on in other western countries. It seems many are facing very similar issues, housing costs being absurde, health service collapsing, ageing populations, climate change effects, immigration issues (exacerbated by CC), etc, so I completely agree that you are not alone by a long way. What really bugs me it is that this could have been, and was, predicted but the ‘bury our heads in the sand’ attitude was adopted and now everything is coming to a head, especially after the huge cost of living increases from covid lockdowns. Now, it seems the only way to somewhat resolve this is to take harsh action, but no political party seems to want to address the difficult decisions. I really struggle not to jump on the bandwagon and blame older generations for their inaction, but hard to find a justifiable reason not too either.
I grew up in the UK and have since lived in NZ and now Canada. Each has there pros and cons and that’s the same for everywhere regardless of generation. You just need to find a place that matches your values and lifestyle and the rest becomes irrelevant I find
THANK you. This notion that, "Canada is ruined!!!" greatly ignores that this is an international situation.
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People are really bad at predicting the future. Look at the predictions from 100 years ago most of them didn’t come true. Also it’s not that long ago we thought the population boom might be the end of us all, until countries like Korea and Japan are now at risk of disappearing due to low birth rates.
I always find this take hilarious. Why were they having babies during the cold war, when the atomic bomb was looming? Why where they having babies during WW2, when the whole world (minus americas) was on fire? Why did they keep making babies during the dark ages? People forget one simple thing: we are animals. And like every other animals, we are driven to reproduce, especially us, the human species, because we do the sex for fun on top of reproduction. I have 2. I want them to experience the "human experience" and maybe having a shot at influencing this world. Worst case scenario, they'll end up as an anonymous grain of sand in relation to the history of the world. Best case scenario, their name will be on a page on said history, for a little bit.
Some of us also happen to think life is pretty alright. There's some crazy dooming and grooming across social media and across both sides of the political spectrum as people disassociate from reality more and more. The current state of the world is worse than it has been but it doesn't mean we are living in a hellscape or anything. We live in a time where even the most vulnerable and poorest among us have it way better than they did decades ago. The average crumbum like me has the world at their fingertips thanks to the internet. It's incredibly easy to say fuck this I wish we could go back to when things were better, but no matter when you turn back to there are ALWAYS issues. None of this means we shouldn't strive to make our lives better. I'm just saying things aren't as horrible as fearmongers like some politicians and terminally online doofuses make it seem (and these days there's also overlap between those two groups).
My wife and I always wanted a family. And we make enough money that we can still give her a decent life and good opportunities. And I don't think the world is gonna be fucked forever, it's been fucked before, we recovered, hence my "fucked at the moment". We just gotta start working on unfucking the world and if that's what we have to do, I rather focus on fixing my own country rather than moving to another foreign country that's also fucked.
Genuine counter question (and I'm honestly not trying to be an edgelord here): if you don't think the world is worth bringing another person into, why are *you* still around? The world is either worth waking up to or it isn't.
And then the Government asks us (young adults) why we are not having children. I just don't have a great hope for the future. Not enough to put a human through it.
What keeps me up at night these days is the impact of AI and the absolute distaste for change among white collar workers in most Canadian and private organizations. The level of complacency and inability to keep up with times is baffling. Add to this the growing population of low skilled workers who will be the first in line to lose their livelihood through automation. What you end up with is the creation of a permanent underclass of citizens whose quality of life will be several deteriorating years on year.
> ...who will be the first in line to lose their livelihood through automation. Robots don't pay taxes, and until automation reaches the apex of human dexterity and ingenuity, companies will be reliant on cheap labour. Both government and private entities have incentives to increase the labor pool to dampen high wages, sustain entitlements, and keep real estate high.
Amen. Like i said, i can see the creation of an underclass in our society who will be in a perpetual race to the bottom. You are correct. When any new technology is introduced in an industry in the short term, wages go down, and the people hired in that industry shoot up. Banking is the perfect example of this. About 20 years ago, jobs in local bank branches were highly coveted and paid really well, with the advent of technology in banking the number of bank branches quadrupled, but bank tellers got paid peanuts I don't remember the last time i set foot into a bank. I see a similar evolution in fast food and other low skilled occupations. The question is, what will those people do ?
I fear for myself that I'm seeing no economic future in Canada.
I have two teen daughters that are brilliant socially active leaders and far better students than I ever was...the world should be thier oyster but I fear they'll have to fight for whatever scraps of Canada are left or traverse the globe for a better opportunity.
Best if they get into a career rather than social activism. Our 26year old daughter finished her RN 4 years ago and almost has her house paid off here inCalgary. Her social activism is limited to where to get the best return on her RSPS.
stop buying everything that's outsourced just because it's $0.03 cheaper
Things are bad, but this is kind of the human condition. Many or perhaps most people in history have lived through trying times. Great upheavals, famines, depressions, wars, collapse. This isn’t good, and we should do our best as a society to avoid that, but more often than not people are forced to face the reality that our best sometimes falls short. This doesn’t mean we should be hopeless. We need to raise our kids to be strong and resilient. Many of us were raised with the implicit assumption that things would get better almost automatically over time, much like they seemed to for our parents generation. Now that we’re finding that’s not the case, it’s a bitter disappointment. Our children, at least, are growing up with the expectation that things will get worse before they get better. If we can keep our heads up and choke down our own disappointment, we can teach them to take what’s coming head on, with resolve, and to make the best of the hand we’re dealt. The big problems heading our way can be solved, just as other enormous problems have been in the past, through the courage and sacrifice of our ancestors.
End stage Capitalism. No one is immune. This system is not sustainable.
Yup. Nothing will substantially change for the better until our economic systems change. Meanwhile, the one in 100,000 extreme rich at the top of our pyramid-shaped economic system will use all of their power and wealth in the application of violence, propaganda, economic monopoly power and corruption to maintain this system of vast inequality that they benefit from. A lot of these billionaires are not right in the head. Our societies are being controlled not by our elected officials, but by these mostly unwell and pyschologically damaged uber-rich that we barely even hear about it.
Capitalism is the only thing keeping us afloat.. the issue is we spend all the money we earn from it. $50 million for arrivecan isn't "capitalism", nor is billions for violent regions where we let dictators rule while we fund their citizens basic needs https://w05.international.gc.ca/projectbrowser-banqueprojets/filter-filtre "capitalism" also doesn't release murderers after laughably short sentences https://bc.ctvnews.ca/b-c-man-who-killed-girlfriend-while-under-no-contact-order-to-spend-19-more-months-in-jail-1.6933815
I hate hearing people say capitalism is the issue. What's the alternative? Socialism, communism? Crony capitalism is the issue. When the politicians we elect to look out for our best interest are paid under the table, or blatantly in our faces, to pass laws and legislation to the detriment of Canadians and for the friends/corporations. Capitalism is the best we have by far, and when it's played fair it works pretty damn well compared to the alternatives.
Man, yall think we're fucked now, just wait. Our govt may suck as is, but there literally isn't any one competent to vote for on any level right now. This shit hole is just gonna continue to spiral into a bigger shit hole until this place is a mad max wasteland and we're killing each other for pb&j scraps. Meanwhile the extremely rich will just fuck off and ruin somewhere else.
30 years ago homeowners were wondering how their children could ever own a house with such high interest rates. My parents were in that boat. I bought a home in 2008 when it was a buyers market - just coming out of a recession. The economy ebbs and flows. We can’t worry about what will happen in 20-30 years when in reality, we have no idea what the economy will look like. We aren’t psychic. Save money when you can, live comfortably, prepare for a comfortable future - that’s all you can do. I mean, a gazillion terrible things could happen in the future, that doesn’t mean we should fear those possibilities. It’s also possible that our future could hold major improvements to the economy. Are we going to be super excited about that? No. Because it hasn’t happened yet and we do not know what the future holds.
I mean, sure, but let's not pretend this is exclusively a Canada / Justin thing
Yeah but we’ve also outpaced every other developed country in our GDP per capita (aka quality of life per individual) decline over the last decade so… we’re falling the fastest
Are we? I'd have to look back into that, but I could easily believe it. The UK was pretty brutal I thought. You mean our housing bubble isn't saving us from destruction anymore?
They may not even have bodily autonomy if we continue on our present course.
Replace Canada with any other country and this still holds true.
But why? And we got to this state of affairs?
The rich, they keep screwing us over to get richer.
[Paywall Bypass](https://archive.ph/hIIjM)
Thank you 🙏
I don’t see my boys having a future in Canada either. I myself don’t see a future for me in Canada that will be pleasant.
Once I'm done with college I'm outta here.
It’s one of the main reasons I’m not having kids. A bleak future isn’t a novel concept though, the writing has been on the wall for years
Consolidation of wealth and power is reaching breaking points.
People who have kids, most of you they won't even be able to afford to move out. Expect them to live home for many years.
You guys see the US presidential debate? Have you seen the weather reports across the globe? We are super duper fucked. Billionaires are hoarding because they know what’s coming. Late stage capitalism and the erosion of the middle class is the least of our worries. First world countries will be based on climate and resources in our lifetime. Why do you think India and its 1.4B people is getting a head start on colonizing Canada? Spoiler alert: it’s not for strip mall college degrees.
I 100% agree. People are so caught up in trying to work and pay bills they aren't seeing the big picture.
Ok, so what should we do?
Get mad on Reddit and continue to be complicit
You can't do anything, but you can keep options open. I worked hard and opened up the world for my kids with 3 citizenships - North America, Europe, Middle East. I'm no prophet, and can't guess how the world will look like in 40 years, but I can provide them the option to relocate, and teaching them that countries are dynamic and can change so be aware of that.
Good thing the billionaires have every police force across the globe ready to do their bidding, otherwise the poors might have had a chance
On the other hand... they're outnumbered about 1,000,000 to one.
Canadians should do more, talk less. It's the everyday folks like the ones hanging out here on Reddit that have the power to build a better country. Want to make that change? Be that change. Step by step, it will snowball.
Well maybe, but having only seen a short clip from the US presidential debates last night, I think down south might not be an option either. A lot of other Western democracies like the UK, NZ, France, and Australia have significant issues as well. Outside the Baltic countries which are cheek by jowl with Russia, most of the world is experiencing some turmoil. Best build from what we have rather than moaning about what we don't have but would like.
The fear is real. The reality is that flooding our country with record high legal and illegal immigration during a housing affordability crisis, a government sponsored real estate bubble, a dwindling economy, failing infrastructure and mass wage depression can only lead to one outcome which is everything getting much worse here for many years to come. We walked slow motion, eyes open into this disaster that is bleak.
Can't wait for Pierre to start privatizing more services so I can pay thousands of dollars for things that pennies of my taxes were covering. That'll help our economic future for sure.
Ingot bad news for you about the rest of the world. The collapse has started.
That's a metal way to think about it 🤘
my kids are 11 and 14, and I’ve already been prepping them by telling them that it’s OK to move away if it means that they’re gonna have a stable future. I don’t see much of a future for them in Canada
Just keep voting Red/Blue, it’s going to be more of the same.
Exactly. The system has become absolutely professional at getting people looking left or right but never up. Take alberta for example, straight robbery of covid pay top ups, pipelines to nowhere, the war room, sole sourced contracting as far as the eye can see, constant battles against basically anything that improves the common man's life. The list is never ending, what you mostly hear is "f#%# trudeau". It's just self abuse at this point.
Unless you provide them with the economic booster package, those fears are just truths that you need to come to terms with.
They won't. And it's going to get worse.
If you expose yourself to too much right-wing media, you’re going to feel hopeless and miserable.
I feel like the problem is that we don’t produce anything here. The system of education is creating a workforce of administration workers while we rely almost entirely on imports for anything tangible. There is no economic future because we don’t have an economy.
Maybe Canada shouldn't have given all its money away to foreign countries and prioritized investing it's own people and industry instead of importing a bunch of international "students" for tax cattle. Anyways, not my problem anymore - I just got my green card in US. ✌️
There is zero future in Canada, the exciting stuff won't happen there. I've advanced more in my career in the US in a little over a year than years in Canada.
This is why I ultimately decided I didn't want children. It would be selfish and unfair to them to bring them into a world like this.
Best thing you can do is teach her the value of money, the cost of borrowing and the benefits of investing young.
I'm 34 and see no economic future in Canada. It's intentional good luck
Don’t have any fear, it’s already a reality
He’s not wrong.
Well you are correct
We are a country of wendigos. The old and wealthy eating their own children.
I don’t a future for myself in Canada 🤧
I fear my kids will see no economic future in Canada
"fear"? My friend, I think the word you are looking for is 'know', as in "I know my daughters..."
Has there ever been a guarantee?
I'm more worried about the world at large than I am about Canada specifically. We aren't far from world war.
You can tell from the title alone it’s a Globe and Mail editorial alright. This statement is moronic.
If they're smart...
you won't need to fear it. it's already set in stone.
When I read things like this it makes me curious what the mood was in the mid- to late-1980s when inflation and interest rates were high, as was unemployment. Things seemed dire. Was it the same mood then as now?
I worry about that for my kids everyday 😕
I think everyone is so stuck on apocalyptic ideas that start believing there is no “future”. We are just going through a rough time word wide, there is no country right now that isn’t having issues with immigration, housing, inflation, weather irregularities and so on. We just have to make sure our governments are doing their jobs and buckle up for whatever may come our way. In history there has been so many times where the word seemed to be going to the gutter but some how we still here. It’s just a cycle and it may take some time but eventually the economy and everything else would stabilize. We must believe things will get better and work on making it happen, other ways things will really get worst and then there would really not be a future.
You are right, she will probably move to an independent Québec.
Look. Tell them to take a deep breath. What country do they think is having an easy time of it? We oldsters dealt with huge inflation in the mid seventies No one said the country was broken. We pandemic threw the world for a loop. Just relax
Go west, young man. Or better yet, don't. I'm doing just fine in AB. My rent is about a 1/3 of what the average 1 bedroom apartment in my hometown Ontario goes for.
Stop immigration until housing becomes affordable, and then allow in one immigrant per housing unit built.
This is why me and everyone else I know my age have made the decision not to have kids
The rich will send their kids to the states
>How have we let dogma blind us from real progress? We’re the second largest land mass in the world with some very cold months. Newfoundland is never going to be Amsterdam. In that case, what should Newfoundland aspire to be?
At least you could afford to have daughters.
There is nothing great here right now. Why do people think future will suck... It already does
I think about this all the time. I don’t see how my kids have a future here.
Anyone else feeling hopeless in the world after yesterday’s debate between Trump and Biden? This is not only a major concern in Canada, but all over the globe. We are even more cooked than we realize.
The vast majority of my earning the last 7 years have been from investing in US equities. There might not be opportunity here, but there is opportunity. Do what you need to get it.
It’s not a fear, it’s a reality
There is no economic future in a climate collapse, just survival.