Fifty-two per cent of us worry a lot about our personal finances. Fifty per cent feel frustrated, 47 per cent feel emotionally drained and 43 per cent feel depressed. There is not one survey indicator to suggest Canadians have made financial progress in 2025 compared with 2024.
…
Our debt-to-household disposable income has bumped up against nearly 200 per cent for years now, putting Canada in first place among G7 countries. Canada’s is 185 per cent; the average for all G7 countries is 125 per cent according to Statistics Canada. Canadian households collectively owe about $3-trillion, almost three-quarters of it is mortgage debt.
…
Today’s Canadian dream is to make the next mortgage payment without having to borrow it. The housing crisis hasn’t just hobbled the hopes of many Canadians seeking affordable housing; it is undercutting middle-class living standards.
…
That thinking of retirement provokes anxiety in surveys on the matter shouldn’t be surprising. It is one more item on a growing list of aspirations many Canadians cannot afford.
Fine by me, but much of the op-ed refers to the housing crisis.
The housing crisis has been brought on by middle class tax policy, a lack of public housing construction, NIMBYism, financialization of housing (significantly by the middle class, although REITs have been getting involved recently), poorly planned immigration/international student policies, and the decline of skilled/unskilled trades (probably related to education, minimum wage, and tax policy). You can also add shitty transit/city planning to that mix, if you’re in to that kind of thing.
It would be fair to tax the rich more, and it would probably make sense to tax gainz on housing/real estate more aggressively. However, there is a massive failure of planning at all levels of Canadian government won’t be solved through simple adjustments to personal taxation.
Well, if you gave me a bunch of a billionaire’s money I’d build a few places to live. 🤷♂️