Generation Squeeze's Hard Truths
Episodes
Old Age Security: National Poll Reveals Majority Want Change
28 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Old Age Security is the largest program expense in the federal budget and is a driving force behind the federal deficit. A new national poll shows 3/4...
Canada Must Renew its National Housing Strategy
08 Apr 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s National Housing Strategy is the federal government’s main plan for tackling housing affordability. The strategy expires in 2027. If it i...
National Security Requires Financial Security for Millennials and Gen Z
27 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Canada’s Armed Forces have reportedly begun modelling responses to a U.S. invasion. Among the ideas said to be under consideration is a civil def...
Cash subsidies should be targeted. Essential services, universal.
17 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
Most gains from economic growth today flow to prioritiestied to older Canadians — retirement income support (Old Age Security) and medical care — ...
Generational Fairness - A feedswap with Planetary Conversations
06 Feb 2026
Contributed by Lukas
This week's episode is a feed swap with Planetary Conversations– with host Warren Bell. Planetary Conversations is a podcast that showcases way...
Why Your Rent, Child Care Fees, and Taxes Are Rising: The Medical-Care Crunch
08 Dec 2025
Contributed by Lukas
It’s no secret, GenZ and Millennial Canadians are finding it harder and harder to afford the basics: rent, child care fees and tuition. In this epis...
Financial Facelift: Fixing Old Age Security
29 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Most Canadians believe that Canada's Old Age Security benefits act as a safety net, lifting struggling retirees out of poverty. But in this episod...
Financial Facelift: Fixing Old Age Security
27 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Many citizens believe that Canada's Old Age Security benefits act as a safety net, lifting struggling retirees out of poverty. But in this episode...
GenSqueeze joins CBC’s Day 6 to talk structural ageism in Canada’s budget
12 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Generation Squeeze analysis of Canada’s Budget 2025 is getting a lot of media attention! That’s because we’re pointing out a hard truth: The...
Canada's Budget 2025: Who is being asked to sacrifice?
06 Nov 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Budget 2025 sidesteps a hard truth: neither the Prime Minister who tabled it, nor the Opposition Leader who critiques it, has found the courage to ask...
Beware those who invoke struggling seniors to pad six figure incomes.
15 Oct 2025
Contributed by Lukas
The Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) proposes an increase to Canada's Old Age Security but it won’t lift most poor seniors out of ...
Gen Z Doesn’t Need a Year of National Service.
18 Sep 2025
Contributed by Lukas
A recent poll shows that most Canadians — especially olderones — support requiring young adults to spend a year serving in areas like health, disa...
How Housing Affects Choice - Feedswap with Aborsh, a podcast about abortion in Canada
19 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
This week's episode is a feed swap with Aborsh – A podcastabout abortion in Canada, by playwright and podcaster Rachel Cairns.What do abortion a...
More mortgage-free young Canadians is a worrisome sign
23 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Home ownership among young Canadians (under age 35) has recently surged to 44%, the highest level in five decades! 18% of them are mortgage-free. Gene...
Do housing prices need to fall? It's the one question that all politicians dodge.
07 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Canadian politicians are sidestepping the most important – and politically dangerous – question in our housing debate: Should home prices rise, st...
Compensating Millennials and Gen Z for Canada’s bad housing bargain
23 Jun 2025
Contributed by Lukas
For decades, Canada's politicians have been protecting the wealth gains of primarily older homeowners at the cost of affordable housing for the ge...
Hard Truths about the 2025 Federal Election: Are you being duped?
24 Apr 2025
Contributed by Lukas
Emma Buchanan of Visual Change Video sits down with Gen Squeeze Founder Paul Kershaw to discuss Elxn 45 through the lens of generational fairness and ...
BC Election: Deficits & Taxes with Marc Lee
17 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
For our last election bonus, we dip into the sexiest of ballot issues: deficits and taxes. Our guest is Marc Lee, senior economist with the Canadian C...
BC Election: Housing with Thom Armstrong
15 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
As election day approaches, housing affordability and access are top of mind for many British Columbians. The BC NDP, Green, and Conservative parties ...
BC Election: Child Care with Rita Chudnovsky
12 Oct 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We dig into what the BC NDP, Conservatives and Green parties are promising on child care. Our guest Rita Chudnovsky serves on the board of the Coaliti...
Fixing parental leave - with Lisa Wolff
27 Sep 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Canada's outdated, underfunded parental leave system is failing too many families. UNICEF's Lisa Wolff explains why one in three infants is fa...
Minister Chrystia Freeland on restoring Canada's promise to Millennials & Gen Z
08 Jul 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland spoke with Gen Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw and our supporters about the federal governme...
Prime Minister Trudeau: How do we not let younger Canadians down?
28 Jun 2024
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Easing The Squeeze in England - with Liz Emerson
24 May 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Younger Canadians are far from alone in feeling squeezed by the rising costs of housing, child care, and higher education. In this episode, we spoke w...
Curing Canada's sickness care system - with André Picard
30 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
When you think about what makes us healthy, do you think of doctors, medicine, and hospitals? Or do you think of affordable housing, living wages, and...
Taxes, deficits, and Canada's fiscal reckoning - with Sean Speer
11 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Governments of all party stripes, across Canada, must confront a gnarly problem when it comes to investing more fairly in all ages. How do we pay for ...
Big news! Why we're feeling optimistic about the federal budget
05 Apr 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Our heads have been spinning after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced last week that the upcoming federal budget will focus on "fairness for...
Asking homeowners to own their wealth and put it to work - with Michelle Cyca
02 Mar 2024
Contributed by Lukas
We spoke with journalist Michelle Cyca about one of the hardest truths we grapple with (and which gets us a lot of hate mail). Skyrocketing home price...
"The Millennial Pollster" on housing, cost of living and climate
12 Feb 2024
Contributed by Lukas
David Coletto has had his finger on the pulse of Canadian public opinion for well over a decade, as the founder and CEO of Abacus Data and author of t...
Priced-out mayor speaks out about the housing crisis
26 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Millennial Mayor Natasha Salonen of Wilmot, Ontario, made national news last summer: she can't afford to live in the small, rural town she leads. ...
Reducing time at work for better balance with Joe O'Connor
05 Jan 2024
Contributed by Lukas
Better balancing our time at work and our time at home has long been a centrepiece of our family policy solutions. So in this episode, Paul and Megan ...
"We're not alone" #1: Younger Australians aren't getting "a fair go" either
01 Dec 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Canada isn't the only nation squeezed by the symptoms of generational unfairness, and Gen Squeeze isn't the only organization squeezing back. ...
How can we make governments stop "mortgaging the future"?
21 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Canada's housing villains? Look in the mirror - with Max Fawcett
04 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Max Fawcett from Canada's National Observer joins Gen Squeeze founder Paul Kershaw for a wide-ranging look at intergenerational injustice in Canad...
Canada's housing crisis: facing hard truths to find solutions
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
For this episode, Paul Kershaw, Aleem Punja (National Operating Officer, Aga Khan Council for Canada), and Ene Underwood (CEO, Habitat for Humanity...
Wales' Future Generations Commissioner on acting today for a better tomorrow
18 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we look overseas for inspiration about improving the wellbeing of younger and future generations. Wales' Future Generations Commi...
Fending off climate despair with Elin Kelsey
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
Canadians' new right to a healthy environment
14 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
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 generationa...
Jagmeet Singh on generational unfairness harming younger Canadians
26 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Dr. Paul Kershaw and Angie Chan chat with federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh about tackling the massive inequalities faced by younger Canadians. This fa...
Talking constructively about climate change
28 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
While working on our Voters Guide for the Alberta election this month, we've found the province's political parties have been worrisomely quie...
Medical Budgets and Boomers
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Economist Kevin Milligan joins us to dig into the Hard Truth about medical budgets. Older Canadians didn’t pay enough in taxes during their working ...
Gen Squeeze on Parliament Hill
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode features a discussion about our government relations work — specifically about the week we spent in Ottawa directed towards winning ...
The child care staffing crisis w/ Emma Arkell
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Yesterday (February 20) was Family Day, so we thought we'd bring you a family-themed discussion. This episode of Gen Squeeze's Hard Truths podca...
Reframing the health care debate
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Canadians are rightfully proud of our publicly-funded medical care system. Our national self-image is closely associated with the idea that treatment ...
Hope for change w/ Kareem Kudus
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This episode features a discussion about hope — about why we think it's worth it to struggle to change things for the better (even though it can som...
Andrew Tate and our broken intergenerational system
28 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we chat about the social media influencer Andrew Tate and make the case that his popularity is partly a symptom of our broken interge...
Love Letter: Are we being too nice?
14 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
A listener recently sent us a message: "Time to take the gloves off. Stop the kumbaya and love B.S. Time for boomers to pay." So in this episode, Angi...
Sacrificing the Greenbelt to build homes
04 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Doug Ford's Ontario government recently announced that parts of the province's Greenbelt would be opened up for development of homes. In this episode ...
Our work advising governments
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we chat about the work Gen Squeeze does in advising various levels and institutions in government. We discussion recent examples of t...
Celebrating our 10th anniversary - part 2
18 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We continue the 10th anniversary discussion we began in the previous episode — chatting about we've been up to, some of the lessons we've learned al...
Celebrating our 10th anniversary - Part 1
07 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We registered gensqueeze.ca as our website in November 2012. We figured we'd use this occasion to look back at what we've been up for the last 10 year...
Celebrating stalling home prices
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kershaw chats with Kareem Kudus and Molly Harris about a housing report they co-authored for Gen Squeeze. While home prices have stalled and even...
Majority of Canadians support a price on housing inequity
18 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we chat about the results of a poll that Gen Squeeze commissioned earlier this year. Among other things, the poll found that the majo...
Championing intergenerational fairness w/ Elizabeth May
09 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Former Green Party leader (and current Green Party leadership contestant!) MP Elizabeth May chats with Paul Kershaw about taking our #GenFairnessChamp...
The economic costs of climate change w/ Caroline Lee
07 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kershaw and Andrea Long interview Caroline Lee, a researcher with the Canadian Climate Institute (CCI). They chat about 'Damage Control: Reducing...
Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein' and government budgets: a Halloween special!
31 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
This Halloween edition of the Hard Truths podcast features a discussion about government budgets. Mary Shelley's classic novel 'Frankenstein' serves a...
Can our elected officials become #GenFairnessChampions?
24 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of the Hard Truths podcast, co-hosts Umair Muhammad and Angie Chan chat with Paul Kershaw about the campaign Gen Squeeze recently laun...
The good and the bad of Pierre Poilievre's intergenerational analysis
15 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The kind of intergenerational framing and language that Generation Squeeze champions is increasingly making its way into the mainstream of Canadian po...
"Are you saying I did something wrong?": what role regret, blame, and guilt have in restoring generational fairness
09 Oct 2022
Contributed by Lukas
To really fix a problem, we need to know the truth about what's caused it. But some truths hurt -- like telling our older family members that the cost...
Campus affordability
29 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode Gen Squeeze's Umair Muhammad and Paul Kershaw chat about the problem of campus affordability—an issue that is increasingly in the he...
The 'boomer bulge' and better budgeting: interview with Bill Robson
22 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode of Gen Squeeze's Hard Truths podcast Paul Kershaw chats with Bill Robson, President and CEO of the CD Howe Institute. They talk about ...
Celebrating $10aDay child care: interview with Lynell Anderson
12 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The $10aDay child care campaign's success is a huge victory for Canadian families and a reminder that change can happen. Hosts Paul Kershaw and Angie ...
"Taxes are essential for a properly functioning society": an interview with Dr. DT Cochrane
02 Sep 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gen Squeeze's Paul Kershaw sits down to chat with DT Cochrane, lead economist with Canadians for Tax Fairness (C4TF). Their discussion ranges from the...
Inbox insights: responses to our housing surtax proposal
26 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gen Squeeze's million-dollar-homeowner surtax proposal has garnered lots of responses. As one would expect, there's a fair bit of support for the prop...
Why we need to tax million-dollar-home owners
18 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
We've proposed a modest annual surtax on homes valued more than $1 million as one strategy (among many) to tackle the housing crisis. The surtax could...
Taxing empty homes worked in BC: interview with Jen St. Denis
11 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
B.C.'s Speculation and Vacancy Tax successfully returned 20,000 vacant homes to the long-term rental market between 2018 and 2020, according to a repo...
How mismeasuring inflation fuels the housing crisis: an interview with Kareem Kudus
04 Aug 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Inflation seems like big news lately, but runaway inflation has been around for decades when it comes to housing prices in Canada. Gen Squeeze volunte...
Cutting Canada's carbon emissions: an interview with Dave Sawyer
27 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Environmental economist Dave Sawyer and Gen Squeeze's Umair Muhammad and Megan Wilde discuss how Canada is cutting carbon emissions to fight climate c...
Inbox Insights: the angry folder
20 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Gen Squeeze's podcast is called Hard Truths, because we know our research and ideas aren't always popular. Sometimes we even make people mad. In this ...
The Sofa Session: Democracy needs to work for all generations
06 Jul 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Fixing big systemic problems like generational unfairness requires a well-functioning democracy. This episode finds Angie Chan and Paul Kershaw having...
Inflation and the Affordability Plan through an intergenerational lens
29 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The new federal Affordability Plan promises to ease the painful effects of inflation. How fairly will these affordability measures work for younger an...
Making sense of voter apathy
20 Jun 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Are you wondering what the heck just happened in Ontario's election? Co-host Umair Muhammad chats with Dr. Paul Kershaw and Andrea Long about why less...
Interview with Sean Speer: Younger generations aren't getting their fair share of Canada's budget pie
25 May 2022
Contributed by Lukas
A generational bias in Canadian politics prioritizes seniors in government budgets, leaving younger generations fighting for table scraps. Genera...
Bonus: Breaking down budget 2022
19 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
It's springtime, when birds sing, flowers bloom and governments strut their stuff in budgets! Budgets shape all of the actions governments take, so if...
Busting the myth of the lazy millennial
15 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
The myths that young Canadians are lazy and seniors are poor have real power in our lives and the world of politics. These myths fuel our broken gener...
Bonus: How can Canada stop skyrocketing home prices?
05 Apr 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Unaffordable housing is a symptom of generational unfairness that most young Canadians know all too well. Across Canada, it’s a hard and obvious tru...
Generational fairness? What the #$@!% is that?
18 Mar 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Paul Kershaw and Angie Chan confront Gen Squeeze's first Hard Truth: Canada has a generational fairness problem. If you've never heard the term,&...