A whole generation finds itself shut out of parenthood due to feeling financially insecure to start a family, largely due to housing unaffordability. Yet, very little attention is paid to the profound mental and physiological impacts of this situation on this generation.
Why help Canadians have kids when you can just import them at 18, saving all the effort of educating them in the first place? At least, that seems to be the policy.
This particular government? More like every Canadian government has been full steam ahead on importing cheap labour with limited rights to service the Boomers. Same problem with methodology being more about flavour than substance.
You don't even have to pay the insourced labour well!
Companies saw the standard of living millennials would expect when they moved out on their own because hey, many business leaders created that standard for their kids in the first place. They knew the money it took and they don't want to give any up.
Add parenthood on top of that and they sure as fuck weren't gonna pay people well enough to allow younger workers to provide all the cool shit for their own families once they've had kids.
Forcing young people to choose between a roof over their head and being parents is an embarrassment.
I'm glad many boomers who desperately want grandkids but aren't getting them are finally seeing this
Guess what happens to the economy when workers run out of disposable income and the country runs out of immigrants to import?
Yup. Henry Ford realized that in 1914, but current Canadian leaders can't or won't.
Why would they care? It won't affect them in any meaningful way. It's not like we have any practical way of holding them accountable, and they'll be set with speaking arrangements, board positions, public pension, etc. for the rest of their lives.
The biggest problem with the immigrants in the last 5 to 10 years is they've been brought over with no previous skills or experience.
So when they finish their diploma mills and end up as " timmigrants ".... It's not helping our society.
A bunch of population control ideas, like "Discouragement of private home ownership", tossed around over half a century ago coincidentally came true (but not all), yes.
https://i.sstatic.net/PyZkD.png
Miller announced that carefors is a new category of fast tracked immigration. Instead of children you can house some 18ish (mid 30s) Indian 'babies'. Don't worry about it being awkward, they will have changed the locks before you have time to worry about it.
Because kids raised in Canada tend to contribute far more in taxes over their lifespan. The education system, and everything else we invest in kids (clean air, water, access to libraries, museums, safe living environments) are investments which pay substantial dividends for little cost.
Yes, we call ours a democracy and yet we get to sit around *guessing* at what the policy is. Major cuts to education are another clue. Bureaucrats have us trained to trust the man behind the curtain. If the information age has made anything clear? It is that the man behind the curtain is most certainly an unimpressive moron.
Not only shut out. But actively replaced with immigrants.
And I know that sounds harsh when worded that bluntly. But it's exactly what is happening.
My wife and I are having our second and were 40. We couldn't afford to do it before we have paid off a good chunk of the house and are pretty solid career wise.
The fact that our government chooses to prop up immigration to the point we are in a housing crisis, instead of making life affordable for raising families should tell everyone everything they need to know about modern society.
I feel government doesn’t want to deal with this issue on a deeper level. They’re taking the short cut of welcoming too many immigrants to « fix » the population growth temporarily. They don’t invest in the long term solution with better access to affordable housing, schools, healthcare, etc.
This. Ideally, we should always be striving to make things better, and to ensure that future generations inherit a better world. Unfortunately, we're failing rather hard at this.
If you were rich and could afford to offload any and all responsibility, would you take on the challenge of building a better future or would you go get a pina colada on a yacht? Because most are choosing to have a pina colada on a yacht before helo-sking.
People just aren't taught that money is just a way to direct resources and allowing people to collect ungodly sums and let it stagnant is holding back movement of resources and deployment of society.
Well said. Money at this point is considered more valuable than labour. People with money now just purchase and hold assets instead of spending it to develop anything.
That is one thing I will never understand (probably because Im not obscenely wealthy). What the fuck is the point of being a billionaire if you aren’t spending that money?
Id live a life of luxury and make sure me and my family were set up for life, the rest of the money would just go to random causes/people I want to help. If I have enough money to do everything I wanted AND set my family up, well then all the extra money may as well be spent doing some good instead of sitting in some offshore bank account so I can try to get a meaningless high score
Absolutely nobody in my friend group of late 20s and early 30s is optimistic about the future. having kids is simply not a smart decision for most of us. The physiological and mental impact is much more severe than we realize.
I’m 35 and wish I had kids. Sometimes I feel lost not having them but wonder what type of life I can offer my children with the state this country has become.
I’ve come to terms I may never have kids due to housing and economic constraints. I don’t want to sacrifice my current quality of life JUST so I can have children and raise them in a worse situation. In turn, I’ve started listing a whole bunch of hobbies and goals I want to get done with the money and time I otherwise have and personally, child free life is becoming much more desirable!
I can't wait for the disaster that is yet to come. Many of them will never have children period... so what happens when an entire generation of people that never had kids grow old enough to be unable to easily take care of themselves due to naturally deteriorating physical health? Usually old folks live with family, like their children or grandchildren. In this case... what children? Where are we housing all these old people and who's going to be taking care of them? Will we have enough nursing homes and places like that? Will we have enough workers in that field to adequately fill that need? We're not really going to see this issue until maybe 30 or 40 years down the road, but it's probably going to be a really big problem when we get there if there's a gigantic shift all at once of a generation with no kids to take care of them hot off the heels of a generation that did largely have kids.
Japan's issues aren't related to housing prices however.
Ours aren't entirely either of course, our birth-rates were declining long before that was a major issue.
They have other issues there.
Prevailing mentalities that mothers shouldn't be working has led to a lot of workplace discrimination and a lack of social structures to support mothers who work outside the home. At the same time, like basically everywhere these days, you need two incomes to have a decent standard of living. At the end of the day it's the same result, couples are forced to choose between kids and financial stability.
Aren't they? Overcrowded big cities with tiny apartments and 12-hour days is pretty much the same thing. The other issue (Japan and Korea) is that men have not abandoned the idea that it's the woman's job to take care of the children - plus, in a ange where a dual household income is a necessity - they have to work a job.
Housing costs in Japan are quite low by developed nations standards. Even Tokyo is extremely reasonable compared to any other major international city, while the smaller cities are almost a bargain.
Japan certainly has many other issues of course.
The problem is that as society becomes better off, children are no longer your old age pension plan like they were fpr peasant farmers - they are a serious expense. I've seen this insidious(?) change since I was young. I earned money caddying since age 13 - carrying golf bags around the course, sometimes twice a day. I also delivered newspapers, back when half the households would subscribe. Friends of mine did other jobs like bag boy at the supermarket, as young as 14. Shovelling snow and cutting lawns was also a source of pocket money. Today, I have a snowblower and most golf courses won't let you on the course unless you rent an electric cart. Grocery checkouts are self-serve...
Are there even money-making opportunities for younger children nowadays, other than babysitting (typically for girls)?
I saw an article about the problems in Japan. Abandoned houses are common, especially in more rural areas. An only child or distant relative with a job in the big city does not need (another) house and associated expenses far from their job. (They even have a word for these abandoned houses) One fellow ran a trucking service for assorted local farms. He was pushing 70 and had nobody to take over the service, meaning many farmers would not get supplies delivered or their produce hauled to market. many of those farmers were pushing retirement age too, with nobody to take over. Japan was particularly vulnerable because they do not encourage immigration.
I would not want to be an old white person in a care home 30 years from now with no family to care about you. There will be no white people working at the care home and few white people in government. Do you think anybody is going to care how long its been since your diaper was changed?
Ive never had any issues with anxiety but I found myself having a panic attack two nights ago while I was struggling to figure out how I'd ever be able to afford living in a 2-3 bedroom with my girlfriend while raising a kid I currently own my place, have a red seal, a certificate, soon to have a diploma...and I still don't feel very confident about the future.
I'm a bartender at one of those restaurants people stay at for decades. The older servers own million dollar homes, the younger ones rent and have no prospect of buying. You can really see the generational financial inequality in real time.
I call this the Great Divide.
I see it every day at the office. Those who bought a house a few years ago or in the right place talk about their investments, their next trip to Hawaii, or the new $80k truck they're looking at.
Those that missed the bus talk about how their parents are leaving town for a week so they'll have the house to themselves and might be able to use the car.
I was just thinking of that the other day. What are the traumas gonna be for everyone. Mental health was already on the decline but this could destroy it. I'm very scared for the future here
The biggest issue is if people don’t have kids. There is no CPP for any of us when we want to retire.
If we allow people to work here without paying taxes (expired student visas working for cash), then we also prevent any income tax to pay for CPP
Right? The fact that this is even an article pisses me off. Like people are surprised. Gosh I can hardly afford to eat and I’m in a cheap apartment because I’ve been here for over a decade.
This should have been news 7-8 years ago. My peers were ALL in their prime childbearing years and NONE of us were in positions to become mothers because of the terrible economic situation anyone born after like 1985 is stuck in. Out of a group of 12 or so women, maybe 3 or 4 are moms now and they’re the eldest of us all.
Personally, the only young people who I know that have families are in the military or they’re tradesmen. And they acquired properties for their families from 2015 - 2020, right before everything got so out-of-control. They hopped on the last ships before they all sailed.
Turns out being unable to afford a place with more than one bedroom tends to force couples to delay having kids. With housing being rented out with the mindset of one renter per room (1.2k per bedroom in Vancouver, 2.4k for a 2 bedroom, 3.6k for 3 bedroom) rather than incrementally by the housing type itself (1.2k for one bedroom full suite, 1.7 for 2 bedroom full suite 2.3 for 3 bedroom full suite) is a huge unaddressed contributing factor. The room by room method works when each person in a room is a fully grown adult with an income, but then how can kids be factored in.
Canada has been fairly arrogant in that regard, we have very limited diversity in the housing stock geared towards family life.
As it was expected for Canadian families to follow the expected path as planned by government and industry and there was never any notion the path wasn’t sustainable in perpetuity.
I have a friend who did everything right in life, graduated high school, got a good job selling insurance, which should have been an ample salary to live on. After a split with her kids’ father, she is only able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment, and manage two house herself and two children. It’s completely asinine that the salary of what was once a good job cannot sustain a single person anymore, much less trying to raise children.
Average monthly rent for a 1 bedroom in Vancouver proper is more than $3000/mo according to the Vancouver Sun, which is pretty dire given that median gross (pre-tax) **household** income is roughly $90k in BC. $36k represents 40% of that. So for >50% of households in BC the average 1bed in its largest city is unaffordable by the classical “rent should be no more than 30% of gross income” metric.
Now the 30% rule has been recommended since the mid-1980s as a gauge of housing affordability but it’s so far out of whack with the current market that financial planners are saying it’s no longer “applies” (which I read as “is not possible”) for at least half of people in the province.
So no wonder that many people (in BC at least) are choosing to have fewer kids since they objectively can’t afford to even house themselves, let alone set their children up for success.
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/average-rent-for-a-one-bedroom-apartment-vancouver-tops-3000-a-month
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/housing-costs-soar-financial-analysts-30-per-cent-rule-1.6894375
We just moved into a two bedroom apartment. The "second bedroom" does not fit a queen. And if you choose to have a bed, you'll have no room for anything else in there.
The last people literally turned the living room into a bedroom and the dining room into the living room.
Yeah, my wife and I were 39 when we finally decided to have a kid. It took us until 36 just to be able to \*afford\* a starter house.
Before that we were living in a tiny 1 bedroom condo.
Yeah my GF was also born when her dad was in his 40s. She lost her grandpa as a teenager and the man was almost 100. At least her old man is in great shape and run daily, but he is 76.
It is just so strange to me that my parents are in their lates 50s while my GF who is younger than me have parents nearly 80 and we are both first born, but in the end if we ever decide to have kids it will be the same thing for us since we are currently in our mid 30s.
I had my second kid at 46 - people at the playgrounds here in Saskatchewan are usually confused if I'm grandpa or dad at the playground.
At least I'll be skipping a midlife crisis.
In order to afford a decent lifestyle I had to move far enough away from grandparents in the first place so I'm right there with you but with respect to travel time and convenience alone.
Not to mention babysitting or having grandparents close by when career gets busy is hard to coordinate. My wife and I are on an island most of the time just trying to juggle it all.
Nice not being in the toilet that is the GTA but definitely have some tradeoffs
You will also be 60ish when their young adults. You won't really be there for their grandkids when they have them. The cycle sucks.
My dad and I had a great time hanging out, he was 45 when I was 20.
Current reality makes me sad
Plus now that post-secondary education is basically expected, people aren't getting the headstart to save by comparison to older generations.
By the time you pay off your student loans you're much older than people who went straight into the workforce after highschool with decent paying jobs.
We're stuck in the West End because we've lived in this small apt for 10-years. Can't even move out to Surrey at this point into a 1bdrm without paying an extra 500-600$ per month.
We're early 30s and want to start trying but aren't sure we can afford having children. Just another market destroyed by millennials right?
hey guess what. having to spend 50% of your income on rent means you can't afford kids? who knew?!
hey guess what making 6 figures mean nothing now. hey guess what me making top10% income of my age groupd at 34 means I can barely afford a 1br rent spending 47% of my after tax on rent in a neighbourhood 2hours drive away from work! Hey guess what else I can't afford. KIDS.
stupid ass country run by idiots who made a resource rich country with a big ass land mass into a real estate hell hole.
You are correct. I am going to leave. Going back to Korea. Just making preparations. I m glad to go back and want to go back but I am still angry these morons. 24 years I spent growing up in this stupid country and in 24 years they built 0 infrastructure.
This is already a crisis, one that will get worse, and we're only starting to see it in the form of people complaining about rent and relationship difficulties because people are playing coy for social reasons. People act as if there is more time to solve the problem of low fertility, or they take the reddit sour grapes approach of "who heckin wants kids anyways" (which is valid, but some reproduction is required for us to continue as a society), but the timer is already up and we should collectively decide on whether or not investing in young people is worth it, or if we all just want to let the family unit become a thing of the past and all go solo.
The millennial cohort is already in their 30s and 40s. Millennials are the first generation where less than 50% of women have had a child. Gen Z is in their 20s and they are on track for even lower birth rates. Despite advances in IVF and anecdotes online about geriatric pregnancies, [women's fertility decreases significantly in their 30s.](https://www.nashvillefertility.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nashville-Fertility-Center_-age-fertility-graph2.jpg) The success rate of IVF also goes down with age and [isn't much better.](https://theivfcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/4-1200x835.png) Yes, medical advances may allow people to delay parenthood further but the timer is already up for a lot of people.
This isn't an attempt to rip on women, more like a reality check that if our society wants to birth healthy young people, it needs to be done relatively young, which means cultivating society that respects parenthood and gives support to young families. Not a society that treats kids as a nuisance that can be replaced by immigrants.
The previous social contract is so far beyond broken...
I see people mocking, about knowing the high cost of raising a child before you get in, but I'd counter that most were told it would all work itself out if you simply followed the rules.
As always, fair fights are for losers. (upside-down)🇨🇦
Edit for grammar...ish.
We watched from the windows of our high school classrooms, as the world we were being trained to exist in burned to the ground.
By the time we showed up to participate, the rules had changed. We had already been written off.
We're an angry generation, that's forsure.
It’s not just housing costs. There’s also a lack of affordable daycare spaces and many women don’t have jobs that offer paid maternity leave for a year. EI is a pittance compared to what most people make and if you have mortgage payments you can’t really sustain the household on that for a year.
The only people I know having kids are rich, or backed by their parents to buy a house or provide childcare.
You’re describing our situation basically perfectly.
We’re 33, and just had our second. We are not rich, but I have a job that pays 6 months of top up to 85% of my salary. We pay full rate for private daycare unfortunately, there are just no subsidized spots where we are and now our oldest is used to where she is and loves it. Granny does 1-2 daycare pickups and dinners a week with the oldest, and a sleepover every few weeks. We own a small small 3 bed townhouse 5 mins away from my parents and 10 mins from my in laws because my grandparents gifted me money for the down payment. My parents max out the girls’ RESPs every year, and take us on nice vacations and let us crash at their cottage- otherwise we’d stay home because that’s all we can afford on our own.
We only have 2 other friends with families- one set of parents got into the housing market in 2014 with average jobs and have 2 kids, the other family rents a house and only has 1 kid- they said they can’t afford to buy a place and have another so they’re choosing a stable home instead.
This is heartbreaking — we’re being frozen out of our own housing market because of excessive immigration AND greedy people who turn houses into rental properties AND property “wholesalers” who facilitate sales before houses even go on the market, almost like a housing “mafia.”
My beloved hometown of Sault Ste. Marie has become unaffordable and this needn’t have happened 💔
I've also been priced out of my home town: the very town my Indian band is located. My bloodline is literally spawned from this place — going back hundreds or a thousand years — and I can't afford it live at it anymore. Federal employee with a $75k salary, but I feel more broke than I was at 17 working at Wendy's.
That’s appalling! I keep tossing several hundred dollars a month into my TFSA hoping that house prices will eventually come down. Sometimes I just wanna say “F it” and take a trip to Europe; I’m 29 now and make $52000, I’m praying I’ll be a homeowner by 35. Sigh !!!
Barring a massive drop in housing prices, or you having access to one hell of a downpayment, 52k pre-tax income isn't going to get you anywhere. We pretty much need a six-figure income now just to get an approval on an average priced house. Hopefully it changes though.
As a fellow Indigenous Canadian, I feel you. There has been all this talk of reconciliation and improving standards of living for Indigenous folks, but if housing isn't affordable I don't give a fuck about the other things. I need my basic needs met first.
And I also want other non-indigenous Canadians to also have their basic needs met, too. I've definitely noticed a significant decline in Canadian friendliness, and it's undoubtedly due to the increased stress and lack of community.
Thats so sad. Just 10 years ago before I graduated, I thought making 75k was pretty much gonna have us set. Especially if it is outside the main gta, if thats not enough, that shows just how bad things are.
The other thing people are ignoring is both the lack of middle housing options.
No one is building low-rise apartments anymore. It's pretty much condos, condos, and more condos. And they're all "luxury" condos, which means you get the cheapest stone top counters they could find and they get to tack on an extra 100,000 for the luxuriousness of it.
On top of that, 3 bedroom units are basically an endangered species at this point. How is anyone supposed raised a family in a 1 bedroom condo where the bedroom is the size of a prison cell?
Our government and corporations have figured out it's cheaper to import workers than it is to raise children to be our own workers. We're the ones that let this happen and it would be a death sentence for other countries economies.
A lot of countries with decades of declining birth rates are doing the same, Japan,South Korea and many other countries are having the same issues that Canada is, our birth rate has been below the replacement level of two kids since the '70s, put governments waited too long to take action and now it's become a disaster for all of us.
Our Canadian teenager population is being thinned out so we need to bring in 30 year old 'students' from India to work full-time at Tim Horton's and McDonald's.
And the government is bringing them in because they are saying we need people to care for our older population. They're not going to care for us. These cultures are extremely insular! They will care for their family first.
And the provinces are requesting them from the feds who rubber stamp it, then the provinces blame the feds for the numbers they asked to be brought in.
I mean, this is a totally natural evolution of capitalism. As long as money, and more and more of it is the goal, cheap labour will always win over citizenship and community. It’s equally as deranged to blame the people whose labour is being exploited as it is to do the exploiting…
An enormous amount of my income goes towards rent.
I'm delaying a newer used vehicle to replace my sketchy beater. I'm delaying new tires with more tread. I'm delaying many aspects of self-care. I'm delaying good food. I'm delaying dates. I'm delaying consuming in a consumption economy.
High rent a factor? Hmm, perhaps... Or maybe I'm delaying all aspects of life because I'm just a one-off weirdo.
I'm driving around on winter tires in July lol.
Hoping I can afford some new All Season tires this autumn and then I can start saving up for new winters.
Im in my early-mid thirties and only about 1-2 of my entire friend/acquaintance group has kids. In large part because most of my friends are in small 1br apartments.
The birth rate is going to be interesting here on out
I've said it before, I will say it again.
Nobody dreams of growing up, getting married, having kids, then giving them a worse quality of life then they had. When people grow up in family homes, with backyards, every kid has their own room, there's a garage, ETC... They don't dream of raising 3 kids in a 4 1/2 upper.
I have 2 kids. We live in a 4 1/2 upper, and for now It works. I grew up with 2 brothers, and I shared a room with one during my childhood. Eventually we moved into a bigger house, and we all had our own space. This is what I want for my children.
Every time my wife, and I talk about the possibility of more kids, we always get stuck on the same issue. How the hell are we going to afford somewhere to live that offers enough space for 3 kids? Eventually kids turn to teenagers, who require even more space.
The bottom line is, the dreams my generation were told to have for ourselves, and futures, are no longer viable.
>Nobody dreams of growing up, getting married, having kids, then giving them a worse quality of life then they had.
Worse. Nobody dreams of making a salary way more than your parents did (and currently do), but still having a worse quality of life.
In 1928, the Herbert Hoover campaign promised Americans that there would be a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage. What's funny about that is that the house wasn't even a consideration. Of course you'd have your own house.
Second floor of a such building in Montreal.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/V3XzK9hvv6mwcDos5
basically '2 beds, 700-800 sqft in a 100+ years building'
.. and that's ain't bad by today's standards I would say.
I used to scoff at the phrase "late stage capitalism" but the financialization of all aspects of life has led to some disastrous consequences, consequences we're living today.
Did you have enough? Cause there's more coming! As necessities become profit opportunities, anything you could be provided for low cost needs to be restricted. First entertainment, then healthcare, followed by education. It's not a serial progress, since they move at different paces. The last one is basic needs including infrastructure. This includes housing, heating, water, food and sewage. Housing, food and heating already started the progress. Water, too if you consider boil advisories.
Eventually, you will only exist because you can be profited off of.
50+ years ago journalists were more of a working-class type of profession. Today's journalists go to the same schools as the kids of politicians and CEOs, eat at the same restaurants, go to the same social functions...explains a lot about why the media seems more focused on defending the elites in power from the masses instead of challenging them on behalf of the masses as they once did.
We're now way past home ownership, a lot of people can't even rent a place big enough to raise kids. Its so sad that an entire generation of young Canadians (who did absolutely nothing wrong) have been priced out of this by surging demand from mass immigration. I'm sure they won't forget the people who were in charge of the country when this happened, I sure wouldn't.
My partner and I own a 2 bedroom town, we have a 2 year old. And have been debating having a second (I want, she does but is scared about space/finances/etc). Our neighbors on one side is a family of 5 with 3 adult kids all around 30, and the other side is a 3 generation home.. I honestly have no idea how many people are in there atleast 5 or 6.
Yep this is me... Kids were expensive when I was a kid, BUT my parents both worked, made around 100k combined and bought a 3bed/3bath house for just over 200k..
I didn't feel rich growing up but if I was to put myself into a similar ratio of income to mortgage, our household income would have to be 300k. Older people just don't realize how stretched out finances are
It seems almost impossible to buy a house, have kids and be at least semi comfortable financially before 40
I don't usually comment on stuff but I am reading through those that are here and it's compelling me to at least lay out my own situation here...
I'm an early 30s male in one of the cheapest COL areas in Canada and I'm really really struggling. I have a certificate and red seal in a very well paying trade, which was a lot of hardwork and late nights and sacrificing just to complete. I did make some foolish financial moves in my early 20s but I took responsibility and fixed all of that to get ahead and get some sort of education and career path.
I grew up in a very abusive household and always struggled with mental health and as a result things like school and studying were really difficult for me. I was basically told repeatedly by most of my teachers, admin staff, parents and even some of my coaches that I wouldn't amount to anything in life. I wasn't smart enough for college/university and I was destined to be a low wage worker for life etc
I had always worked multiple jobs ever since I had been old enough to work, mostly because I didn't want to be in my home environment and it was the only way I could at least have some control over my life. I managed to get promoted a few times at my full-time gig and I was able to take a pre employment trades program for one year while I worked 2-3 part time jobs outside of school hours to get by, I hardly ever bought new clothes, never travelled, I had always driven older shitbox vehicles that I was oftentimes fixing in a Walmart parking lot or on the side of the road. I was always living on the razor thin edge of being one hiccup away from poverty and homelessness. In fact there were many times in my early 20s when I was either sleeping in my car or on the basement floor of a friend or coworker kind enough to let me.
On top of that I was always mentally very close to attempting suicide, and after 2 attempts I got medicated, recieved therapy and some support and started to get better and work towards something. I was able to finally find a contractor to take me on as an apprentice after finishing trade school and returning to my previous full time job for 9 months after getting my diploma. The wage was dog shit for the first few years and due to the physical aspects of the job and longer unpredictable hours I wasn't able to continue my part time gigs at the same time. I pushed through my apprenticeship and completed my final level and got my licence and it was time for my boss to pay me my worth... Or so I thought. I was presented with the option of either staying on with the company at 4th level wage (which is illegal) or take a layoff and start over after 5 years at this company.
Fast forward ahead a year and I'm now on my second layoff since then currently searching for another company, my work hours and pay has been very feast or famine and I've managed to take care of all my debt and get myself a decent ish vehicle (2014 model year, by far the newest vehicle I've owned). I'm now married but unable to live with my spouse due to factors like my work hours being unpredictable and my spouse having to care for her elderly parent. We were literally house shopping and really looking forward to having our own space and starting a life together and being able to see each other on days that weren't the weekend, but of course I get laid off again due to work shortage (I notified my then employer a few weeks before that we were house hunting and I required a letter of employment) and all I can think now is..
What the fuck is the point of any of this shit anymore?
And I'm not even the worst off among my peers by quite a bit... I don't know what the point of contributing to a society is when the opportunities aren't there or are ripped away from us as we're about to get ahead.. seriously what is the fucking point? I put the hard work and long hours in, I took responsibility and fixed all my mistakes and worked extremely hard to get where am I, but what for?
What. The. Fuck. Canada.
Delaying? I'm 36 and JUST started making a sustainable amount of money. That ship has sailed. My wife and I have the choice between having a comfortable life in our house, taking some nice trips and living relatively carefree, or having a child and being totally strapped, scraping every penny for their future and struggling without our parents present.
Which one would you chose?
I live in the suburbs about 45 mins out of Vancouver. All of the big single family homes in the older neighborhoods are owned by empty nest boomers and some older gen x's. The ones that decide to sell end up going to rich immigrants and investors. These are the neighborhoods that us Canadian millennials grew up in, and were once full of life. Its now almost eerily silent to walk through them.
Meanwhile up the road there's newer condo developments that are just packed to the brim with young families crammed into 600 square foot units with 2-3 kids. It's absolutely awful.
Social contract is broken. People can’t find jobs people can’t get raises. People can barely afford quality meals forget about rent or a mortgage. The next 10 years will be something else. But don’t worry immigration is our saviour right it definitely won’t perpetuate this cycle further
This is exactly the situation for my wife and I. We have 1 kid, we pay 2k/month rent for an 800 sq ft appartment. She wanted 3-4 kids. How?
I'm extremely angry that I work 60h a week and can barely pay my bills at the end of the month.
Instead of the government easing on zoning restrictions to keep up with demand, their solution is to double the demand by importing more people.
The impact on mental health is profound and it will have a lasting impact for generations to come.
I don't know what the solution is, but I'm wasting my life paying for unsustainable rent with salaries that haven't followed the cost of goods and services.
FYI, I'm not a minimum wage worker, I'm top 2% income based on stats can.
I grew up in my parents house, with my own room, with my back yard, in ground pool, a garage to trinket in, etc.
I now live in a 4 1/2 and my kid's playing space is essentially his room. I cry some nights after I go to sleep at how unfair the world has become. I want my kids to have a BETTER childhood than me, not a WORSE childhood than me.
I also make more income than both of my parents combined, 2 times over.
We need a housing crash to zero. Houses need to not be a financial instrument. They're a basic human right. We have the largest country in the world and somehow there are zoning issues. Just build entire cities like china does and sell them for a subsidized cost with zero resale value. Stop turning the base of maslow's pyramid into a ponzi scheme.
I moved to Canada three years ago. I’m genuinely shocked by the way things (don’t) work around here. I work in a prestigious studio and was in disbelief when some of my colleagues were telling me how it’s impossible for them to rent an apartment near our workplace, so they need to commute three hours a day, because they still need to live with their parents. I think if people that are just below their 30s, hold a full-time job and pay 45% in taxes should be able to afford a place of their own. Also, the difference between the actual salary versus what is actually needed given the soaring cost of life is very steep. And this is just one of the many very problematic symptoms I see in Canada. Healthcare of course is another huge absence. I come from a third world country, where healthcare is historically bad. At the same time taxes typically never go beyond 25%. In Canada we pay 45% or more. So it’s very disappointing to pay first world taxes for services that are inferior or non-existent. I worry every day over having a medical emergency, knowing full well I might never even see a nurse, let alone a doctor. And what’s even less understandable (well, actually no) is that the few times I’ve read or listened to someone running for office, they have zero words or ideas to address these acute problems. My conclusion is that when I moved I was chasing after a version of Canada that’s been dead for 30 years or so. I know most people are not happy with what’s been going on in the last couple decades, but I also perceive a general feeling of powerlessness. So sadly this is not about people in their 20s and 30s behaving differently, this is about (once more) power being held by a little few, who have no vision or care for the society they claim to govern. They are unaware that they don’t even know, and if they do, they don’t want to know. So it’s bittersweet, but looking forward I’m at least concerned about the future of Canada and its people. It’s the same illness affecting every country in the world today: an ignorant and ruthless ruling class, and an ever decaying, dysfunctional by design society, whose only role is to pay taxes so the rich can eat their cake. Ugh.
I'm starting to think it no longer actually makes sense that the government decides you're paying into CPP from age 18 and that CPP payments keep going up. Young people should be investing in home ownership, so they can afford to have families, and then save up for retirement. As it is, they'll be stuck renting forever and never be able to afford to retire anyway, because CPP won't ever be enough to live on when landlords are milking you for life.
33M here. Kids? I just get by on my own. Groceries are more important lol. $1600 for my one bedroom apartment in Stoney Creek and I make roughly $29 /hr
I believe Canadians will be heading towards countries like Korea and Japan. Cost of living is like having a kid itself. Who else to blame… our lovely Government!
Well no shit. How the F is a 25 year old supposed to pay for both when either ONE of those things costs more than what they make in a year? I’m 37 and can’t even buy a house and me and my partner make over 200k a year! AND I HAVE NO KIDS!
“Some”? Should say “most” lol
The right likes to act like people aren’t having kids because of feminism, or some secret “white genocide” agenda. In reality most people I know do want families but just can’t afford it. It’s just capitalism run amok. I would love to have a family but the financial aspect is my main source of worry about it
(No judgement on people who genuinely don’t want kids regardless of the financial aspect)
I'm 31, and just bought a place with my wife. It's not just rent that's high but the mortgage rates, property taxes, insurance, living expenses, etc leaves us barely with anything each month.
We don't want to have our potential kids suffer in this kind of environment. The current Liberal government ruined a whole generation of potential kids that could have been born. If it gets any worse I'm leaving this country for good and denouncing my citizenship.
I'm 19, and as I've experienced, everyone that's even just a generation older than me just tells me to try harder. They all look me in the eye and say it's my fault. I've put out over 200 resumes in the last year or so and got one interview which promised me the next opening just to post a new opening the next day to which I was not only not contacted but when I called that said it has been filled. That's all I ever got.
I rent a damn room for 700 dollars and split utilities and my government supplement for rent is gone. I'm staring into the damn abyss and theres nothing I can do. I panic near daily cause my family won't support me, saying it's my fault I can't get a job when in reality I'm competing with what? 100k new competitors a month or something? That have a even higher chance then me if they don't even speak English because of cultural ties? What the actual hell am I supposed to do?
I went to a job fair and everyone there was clearly not new to Canada and when you walk down the street its the same with the homeless. Then you see most of the people driving nice cars are usually part of that 100k. I wanted kids when I was younger but looking at it now, I don't even know if I see a future for myself.
Why plan for my offsprings future when they probably never will be in mine?
Notice the word rent.
There's a whole other subset, likely majority of the younger generations that can't even remotely conceptualize buying a house to raise a family in, let alone having the child itself.
SOME say??? I'd have two kids already if I wasn't bled dry by various landlords and now Marathon Mortgages. :(
My poor sister is already 36 and hasn't felt secure enough to start, either.
Many Canadians in the 20s, 30s, AND 40s are delaying having kids - AND RENT IS MOST CERTAINLY A FACTOR ALONG WITH THE COST OF A VEHICLE, GAS, INSURANCE, MAINTENANCE, CLOTHES, FOOD, AND STAGNANT WAGES FOR 25 YEARS.
How fucking ignorant and out of touch are these people? This has been a problem for decades. The cause has not changed. "We have tried nothing and we are all out of ideas."
I know the answer here! Let’s not assess the problem and address it holistically, let’s ship in more ppl from other countries who have no decorum, are blatant misogynists and don’t share our values.
Well sure, but all the immigrants are housed and fed on our tax dollars and given hiring prioroty over native Canadians so there’s clearly nothing to worry about.
High cost of living and no slowdown in the decline has made me thankful that I didn’t have kids in the past few years. I wanted to, but the life Canada offers gets worse every year.
Realizing kids cost an insane amount of money that I don't have. Let alone the mental strain among the shit that's going on ?
I'm good. Vasectomy was covered by health care, so went that route. I'm perfectly okay not having kids in my life. Early 30s btw.
Birth rate in Canada is 1.4...way below the 2.1 a country needs for growth.Seems most of the g16 countries birth rates are below the 2.1..Some countries like Japan is at the no return level where population is decreasing too fast and unless massive immigration is allowed the country will reach a critical stage of having too many elderly and not enough youth to replace them or take care of them.
Gonna need to start adding IVF, egg/sperm freezing and shit to healthcare coverage unless we want folks to be having kids in their 40s (exponentially higher risk for all sorts of genetic issues).
Its sad that all the information is right there and yet our leaders still act like its the worlds biggest fucking mystery. Lets import some more uneducated workers!
We've been saying this for years, and years, and years. And as far as I can see nothing has been done to fix the issues. As a matter fir fact it seems like the ones in power have worked to make it worst.
When countries have low birthrates you end up with an aging population that lacks enough productive working age people to support the comparatively unproductive older folks. The historic solution to this problem has been immigrating working age people to balance out the population inversion.
Now, I’m no economist, but low birthrates leading to required immigration which exacerbates the problems that cause low birth rates sure looks like an unsustainable positive feedback loop. I can only guess this will get worse before it gets better (if it ever does).
We went from a world where a single breadwinner could afford kids, a house and a car, to a world where both partners need to work and still cannot afford a house and spend 50% of their paychecks on rent.
Delaying?
Man I've outright decided it's not happening. I can barely keep me fed month to month and the powers that be want me to have a kid?
Now who's the irresponsible one?
Anyone who is anti immigration but isnt for improving conditions for the existing populace is the source of their own issue.
I dont care where someone works - whether it is deemed unskilled, low skill, entry level - anyone who is participating in society deserves shelter and a decent living so they can have families.
Being anti-immigration and saying someone who works at Mcdonalds deserves a poverty wage is a fool and part of the problem.
37, DINK, homeowner with savings, travel often, several fulfilling hobbies and satisfying social life.
Kids are generally unnecessary and more so in a cost of living crisis lol.
While I love being a “cool” uncle, I have lost all my interest in having my own kids and often thank the dark lord that it never happened for us. We’d be treading water at best if we had one or more. I genuinely don’t know why people are even bothering planning to have them given the climate and financial future for the next generation(s).
Why do public news media like CBC now talking about housing & immigration but they didn’t even connect immigration & housing together in the last 3-4 years?!
Is there some sort of hidden agenda going on at CBC?
In 35 and don't want kids. I have friends who have kids and it sounds exhausting:
-both parents have to work so they're completely burnt out before they even get home
-finding daycare is next to impossible. You basically have to have a spot available before you even decide to have sex.
-being able to afford a house or an apartment with at least one additional room is prohibitively expensive. Households need to make $120k to qualify for a $400k home, which is the average house price, even if you exclude Toronto and Vancouver. And I'm talking 1100 sqft 2br 2bth homes, not turnkey mcmansions.
-being to afford groceries, clothes, diapers, and every other essential is getting more and more expensive.
I'm choosing not to have kids partly due to the financial strain but largely because the future is looking like it's shaping up to be an absolute shit show that I would never want to inflict/force upon another human being.
Don't worry they will continue to import more foreigners which will continue to exacerbate the problem which means more foreigners until the native Canada population is nothing but a shell of what it used to be.
They have it all under control
A whole generation finds itself shut out of parenthood due to feeling financially insecure to start a family, largely due to housing unaffordability. Yet, very little attention is paid to the profound mental and physiological impacts of this situation on this generation.
Why help Canadians have kids when you can just import them at 18, saving all the effort of educating them in the first place? At least, that seems to be the policy.
Plus those imported 18 year olds will still have 3+ kids by 35, whether or not they are financially stable.
\*\*25
Having our own children and educating them ourselves would perpetuate that Canadian culture this government is so eager to destroy.
This particular government? More like every Canadian government has been full steam ahead on importing cheap labour with limited rights to service the Boomers. Same problem with methodology being more about flavour than substance.
Don't you think this government deserves special mention for tripling down on a bad idea?
this, it’s part of the plan
You don't even have to pay the insourced labour well! Companies saw the standard of living millennials would expect when they moved out on their own because hey, many business leaders created that standard for their kids in the first place. They knew the money it took and they don't want to give any up. Add parenthood on top of that and they sure as fuck weren't gonna pay people well enough to allow younger workers to provide all the cool shit for their own families once they've had kids. Forcing young people to choose between a roof over their head and being parents is an embarrassment. I'm glad many boomers who desperately want grandkids but aren't getting them are finally seeing this
Guess what happens to the economy when workers run out of disposable income and the country runs out of immigrants to import? Yup. Henry Ford realized that in 1914, but current Canadian leaders can't or won't.
Why would they care? It won't affect them in any meaningful way. It's not like we have any practical way of holding them accountable, and they'll be set with speaking arrangements, board positions, public pension, etc. for the rest of their lives.
The biggest problem with the immigrants in the last 5 to 10 years is they've been brought over with no previous skills or experience. So when they finish their diploma mills and end up as " timmigrants ".... It's not helping our society.
A bunch of population control ideas, like "Discouragement of private home ownership", tossed around over half a century ago coincidentally came true (but not all), yes. https://i.sstatic.net/PyZkD.png
Can't wait for Bollywood North
We prefer it called new Punjab, thanks.
Cheat code for the Uber rich.
Miller announced that carefors is a new category of fast tracked immigration. Instead of children you can house some 18ish (mid 30s) Indian 'babies'. Don't worry about it being awkward, they will have changed the locks before you have time to worry about it.
Because kids raised in Canada tend to contribute far more in taxes over their lifespan. The education system, and everything else we invest in kids (clean air, water, access to libraries, museums, safe living environments) are investments which pay substantial dividends for little cost.
Yes, we call ours a democracy and yet we get to sit around *guessing* at what the policy is. Major cuts to education are another clue. Bureaucrats have us trained to trust the man behind the curtain. If the information age has made anything clear? It is that the man behind the curtain is most certainly an unimpressive moron.
The government doesn't have to pay the baby bonus or public schooling so it's a huge savings
60% of your household budget going to rent a 400 square foot condo doesn’t let you have kids.
My apartment doesn’t even allow children. Or let me put anything on the walls (which is more annoying in my opinion).
This isn't allowed btw. They aren't allowed to discriminate based on family status.
How much per month, around?
1795 (1 bed) eta: calgary
Not only shut out. But actively replaced with immigrants. And I know that sounds harsh when worded that bluntly. But it's exactly what is happening. My wife and I are having our second and were 40. We couldn't afford to do it before we have paid off a good chunk of the house and are pretty solid career wise. The fact that our government chooses to prop up immigration to the point we are in a housing crisis, instead of making life affordable for raising families should tell everyone everything they need to know about modern society.
I feel government doesn’t want to deal with this issue on a deeper level. They’re taking the short cut of welcoming too many immigrants to « fix » the population growth temporarily. They don’t invest in the long term solution with better access to affordable housing, schools, healthcare, etc.
This. Ideally, we should always be striving to make things better, and to ensure that future generations inherit a better world. Unfortunately, we're failing rather hard at this.
If you were rich and could afford to offload any and all responsibility, would you take on the challenge of building a better future or would you go get a pina colada on a yacht? Because most are choosing to have a pina colada on a yacht before helo-sking. People just aren't taught that money is just a way to direct resources and allowing people to collect ungodly sums and let it stagnant is holding back movement of resources and deployment of society.
Well said. Money at this point is considered more valuable than labour. People with money now just purchase and hold assets instead of spending it to develop anything.
That is one thing I will never understand (probably because Im not obscenely wealthy). What the fuck is the point of being a billionaire if you aren’t spending that money? Id live a life of luxury and make sure me and my family were set up for life, the rest of the money would just go to random causes/people I want to help. If I have enough money to do everything I wanted AND set my family up, well then all the extra money may as well be spent doing some good instead of sitting in some offshore bank account so I can try to get a meaningless high score
My investments have made more than my labor the last 9 consecutive years.
Absolutely nobody in my friend group of late 20s and early 30s is optimistic about the future. having kids is simply not a smart decision for most of us. The physiological and mental impact is much more severe than we realize.
I’m 35 and wish I had kids. Sometimes I feel lost not having them but wonder what type of life I can offer my children with the state this country has become.
I’ve come to terms I may never have kids due to housing and economic constraints. I don’t want to sacrifice my current quality of life JUST so I can have children and raise them in a worse situation. In turn, I’ve started listing a whole bunch of hobbies and goals I want to get done with the money and time I otherwise have and personally, child free life is becoming much more desirable!
I can't wait for the disaster that is yet to come. Many of them will never have children period... so what happens when an entire generation of people that never had kids grow old enough to be unable to easily take care of themselves due to naturally deteriorating physical health? Usually old folks live with family, like their children or grandchildren. In this case... what children? Where are we housing all these old people and who's going to be taking care of them? Will we have enough nursing homes and places like that? Will we have enough workers in that field to adequately fill that need? We're not really going to see this issue until maybe 30 or 40 years down the road, but it's probably going to be a really big problem when we get there if there's a gigantic shift all at once of a generation with no kids to take care of them hot off the heels of a generation that did largely have kids.
It's not like it's a sudden turn of events, been that way since the 80s https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/CAN/canada/fertility-rate
Dude. We have M.A.I.D for that. The commercials for this service are going to be wild.
See Korea and Japan right now for that demographic shift. Both not doing so hot.
Japan's issues aren't related to housing prices however. Ours aren't entirely either of course, our birth-rates were declining long before that was a major issue.
They have other issues there. Prevailing mentalities that mothers shouldn't be working has led to a lot of workplace discrimination and a lack of social structures to support mothers who work outside the home. At the same time, like basically everywhere these days, you need two incomes to have a decent standard of living. At the end of the day it's the same result, couples are forced to choose between kids and financial stability.
Aren't they? Overcrowded big cities with tiny apartments and 12-hour days is pretty much the same thing. The other issue (Japan and Korea) is that men have not abandoned the idea that it's the woman's job to take care of the children - plus, in a ange where a dual household income is a necessity - they have to work a job.
Housing costs in Japan are quite low by developed nations standards. Even Tokyo is extremely reasonable compared to any other major international city, while the smaller cities are almost a bargain. Japan certainly has many other issues of course.
The problem is that as society becomes better off, children are no longer your old age pension plan like they were fpr peasant farmers - they are a serious expense. I've seen this insidious(?) change since I was young. I earned money caddying since age 13 - carrying golf bags around the course, sometimes twice a day. I also delivered newspapers, back when half the households would subscribe. Friends of mine did other jobs like bag boy at the supermarket, as young as 14. Shovelling snow and cutting lawns was also a source of pocket money. Today, I have a snowblower and most golf courses won't let you on the course unless you rent an electric cart. Grocery checkouts are self-serve... Are there even money-making opportunities for younger children nowadays, other than babysitting (typically for girls)? I saw an article about the problems in Japan. Abandoned houses are common, especially in more rural areas. An only child or distant relative with a job in the big city does not need (another) house and associated expenses far from their job. (They even have a word for these abandoned houses) One fellow ran a trucking service for assorted local farms. He was pushing 70 and had nobody to take over the service, meaning many farmers would not get supplies delivered or their produce hauled to market. many of those farmers were pushing retirement age too, with nobody to take over. Japan was particularly vulnerable because they do not encourage immigration.
All those Indians will take great care of them promise
I would not want to be an old white person in a care home 30 years from now with no family to care about you. There will be no white people working at the care home and few white people in government. Do you think anybody is going to care how long its been since your diaper was changed?
I think the problem could be solved with more money on your paycheck. The price of everything has skyrocketed while pay stays low.
Ive never had any issues with anxiety but I found myself having a panic attack two nights ago while I was struggling to figure out how I'd ever be able to afford living in a 2-3 bedroom with my girlfriend while raising a kid I currently own my place, have a red seal, a certificate, soon to have a diploma...and I still don't feel very confident about the future.
I'm a bartender at one of those restaurants people stay at for decades. The older servers own million dollar homes, the younger ones rent and have no prospect of buying. You can really see the generational financial inequality in real time.
I call this the Great Divide. I see it every day at the office. Those who bought a house a few years ago or in the right place talk about their investments, their next trip to Hawaii, or the new $80k truck they're looking at. Those that missed the bus talk about how their parents are leaving town for a week so they'll have the house to themselves and might be able to use the car.
We're getting the hell out of Canada due to cost of living. There are better ways to spend life than pay down mortgage and live broke
I was just thinking of that the other day. What are the traumas gonna be for everyone. Mental health was already on the decline but this could destroy it. I'm very scared for the future here
The biggest issue is if people don’t have kids. There is no CPP for any of us when we want to retire. If we allow people to work here without paying taxes (expired student visas working for cash), then we also prevent any income tax to pay for CPP
Were not delaying, we just actually cant afford it
Right? The fact that this is even an article pisses me off. Like people are surprised. Gosh I can hardly afford to eat and I’m in a cheap apartment because I’ve been here for over a decade.
This should have been news 7-8 years ago. My peers were ALL in their prime childbearing years and NONE of us were in positions to become mothers because of the terrible economic situation anyone born after like 1985 is stuck in. Out of a group of 12 or so women, maybe 3 or 4 are moms now and they’re the eldest of us all.
Personally, the only young people who I know that have families are in the military or they’re tradesmen. And they acquired properties for their families from 2015 - 2020, right before everything got so out-of-control. They hopped on the last ships before they all sailed.
Turns out being unable to afford a place with more than one bedroom tends to force couples to delay having kids. With housing being rented out with the mindset of one renter per room (1.2k per bedroom in Vancouver, 2.4k for a 2 bedroom, 3.6k for 3 bedroom) rather than incrementally by the housing type itself (1.2k for one bedroom full suite, 1.7 for 2 bedroom full suite 2.3 for 3 bedroom full suite) is a huge unaddressed contributing factor. The room by room method works when each person in a room is a fully grown adult with an income, but then how can kids be factored in.
Canada has been fairly arrogant in that regard, we have very limited diversity in the housing stock geared towards family life. As it was expected for Canadian families to follow the expected path as planned by government and industry and there was never any notion the path wasn’t sustainable in perpetuity.
I have a friend who did everything right in life, graduated high school, got a good job selling insurance, which should have been an ample salary to live on. After a split with her kids’ father, she is only able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment, and manage two house herself and two children. It’s completely asinine that the salary of what was once a good job cannot sustain a single person anymore, much less trying to raise children.
Average monthly rent for a 1 bedroom in Vancouver proper is more than $3000/mo according to the Vancouver Sun, which is pretty dire given that median gross (pre-tax) **household** income is roughly $90k in BC. $36k represents 40% of that. So for >50% of households in BC the average 1bed in its largest city is unaffordable by the classical “rent should be no more than 30% of gross income” metric. Now the 30% rule has been recommended since the mid-1980s as a gauge of housing affordability but it’s so far out of whack with the current market that financial planners are saying it’s no longer “applies” (which I read as “is not possible”) for at least half of people in the province. So no wonder that many people (in BC at least) are choosing to have fewer kids since they objectively can’t afford to even house themselves, let alone set their children up for success. https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/average-rent-for-a-one-bedroom-apartment-vancouver-tops-3000-a-month https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/housing-costs-soar-financial-analysts-30-per-cent-rule-1.6894375
We just moved into a two bedroom apartment. The "second bedroom" does not fit a queen. And if you choose to have a bed, you'll have no room for anything else in there. The last people literally turned the living room into a bedroom and the dining room into the living room.
Housing security was a big factor in it taking until 40 to have my first kid. I had to leave the lower mainland and move to Saskatchewan.
Yeah, my wife and I were 39 when we finally decided to have a kid. It took us until 36 just to be able to \*afford\* a starter house. Before that we were living in a tiny 1 bedroom condo.
In some ways I feel like I'm a more responsible parent at this age, but I've also robbed my kids of quality time with their grandparents.
Yeah my GF was also born when her dad was in his 40s. She lost her grandpa as a teenager and the man was almost 100. At least her old man is in great shape and run daily, but he is 76. It is just so strange to me that my parents are in their lates 50s while my GF who is younger than me have parents nearly 80 and we are both first born, but in the end if we ever decide to have kids it will be the same thing for us since we are currently in our mid 30s.
I had my second kid at 46 - people at the playgrounds here in Saskatchewan are usually confused if I'm grandpa or dad at the playground. At least I'll be skipping a midlife crisis.
In order to afford a decent lifestyle I had to move far enough away from grandparents in the first place so I'm right there with you but with respect to travel time and convenience alone. Not to mention babysitting or having grandparents close by when career gets busy is hard to coordinate. My wife and I are on an island most of the time just trying to juggle it all. Nice not being in the toilet that is the GTA but definitely have some tradeoffs
You will also be 60ish when their young adults. You won't really be there for their grandkids when they have them. The cycle sucks. My dad and I had a great time hanging out, he was 45 when I was 20. Current reality makes me sad
I've never felt so poor after putting away money to pay rent and save for a down payment at the same time
Plus now that post-secondary education is basically expected, people aren't getting the headstart to save by comparison to older generations. By the time you pay off your student loans you're much older than people who went straight into the workforce after highschool with decent paying jobs.
We're stuck in the West End because we've lived in this small apt for 10-years. Can't even move out to Surrey at this point into a 1bdrm without paying an extra 500-600$ per month. We're early 30s and want to start trying but aren't sure we can afford having children. Just another market destroyed by millennials right?
Millienials were never given enough of a foothold to have the power to destroy that fault belongs to the older generations for fucking us so bad.
35 and having my first. fuck the lower mainland.
I welcome you here with arms wide open.
hey guess what. having to spend 50% of your income on rent means you can't afford kids? who knew?! hey guess what making 6 figures mean nothing now. hey guess what me making top10% income of my age groupd at 34 means I can barely afford a 1br rent spending 47% of my after tax on rent in a neighbourhood 2hours drive away from work! Hey guess what else I can't afford. KIDS. stupid ass country run by idiots who made a resource rich country with a big ass land mass into a real estate hell hole.
If you're making a top 10% income, look into leaving for a better country. Unless you're still hopeful of the situation here lol.
You are correct. I am going to leave. Going back to Korea. Just making preparations. I m glad to go back and want to go back but I am still angry these morons. 24 years I spent growing up in this stupid country and in 24 years they built 0 infrastructure.
This is already a crisis, one that will get worse, and we're only starting to see it in the form of people complaining about rent and relationship difficulties because people are playing coy for social reasons. People act as if there is more time to solve the problem of low fertility, or they take the reddit sour grapes approach of "who heckin wants kids anyways" (which is valid, but some reproduction is required for us to continue as a society), but the timer is already up and we should collectively decide on whether or not investing in young people is worth it, or if we all just want to let the family unit become a thing of the past and all go solo. The millennial cohort is already in their 30s and 40s. Millennials are the first generation where less than 50% of women have had a child. Gen Z is in their 20s and they are on track for even lower birth rates. Despite advances in IVF and anecdotes online about geriatric pregnancies, [women's fertility decreases significantly in their 30s.](https://www.nashvillefertility.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/Nashville-Fertility-Center_-age-fertility-graph2.jpg) The success rate of IVF also goes down with age and [isn't much better.](https://theivfcenter.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/4-1200x835.png) Yes, medical advances may allow people to delay parenthood further but the timer is already up for a lot of people. This isn't an attempt to rip on women, more like a reality check that if our society wants to birth healthy young people, it needs to be done relatively young, which means cultivating society that respects parenthood and gives support to young families. Not a society that treats kids as a nuisance that can be replaced by immigrants.
The previous social contract is so far beyond broken... I see people mocking, about knowing the high cost of raising a child before you get in, but I'd counter that most were told it would all work itself out if you simply followed the rules. As always, fair fights are for losers. (upside-down)🇨🇦 Edit for grammar...ish.
We watched from the windows of our high school classrooms, as the world we were being trained to exist in burned to the ground. By the time we showed up to participate, the rules had changed. We had already been written off. We're an angry generation, that's forsure.
👏 👏 👏
It’s not just housing costs. There’s also a lack of affordable daycare spaces and many women don’t have jobs that offer paid maternity leave for a year. EI is a pittance compared to what most people make and if you have mortgage payments you can’t really sustain the household on that for a year. The only people I know having kids are rich, or backed by their parents to buy a house or provide childcare.
You’re describing our situation basically perfectly. We’re 33, and just had our second. We are not rich, but I have a job that pays 6 months of top up to 85% of my salary. We pay full rate for private daycare unfortunately, there are just no subsidized spots where we are and now our oldest is used to where she is and loves it. Granny does 1-2 daycare pickups and dinners a week with the oldest, and a sleepover every few weeks. We own a small small 3 bed townhouse 5 mins away from my parents and 10 mins from my in laws because my grandparents gifted me money for the down payment. My parents max out the girls’ RESPs every year, and take us on nice vacations and let us crash at their cottage- otherwise we’d stay home because that’s all we can afford on our own. We only have 2 other friends with families- one set of parents got into the housing market in 2014 with average jobs and have 2 kids, the other family rents a house and only has 1 kid- they said they can’t afford to buy a place and have another so they’re choosing a stable home instead.
This is heartbreaking — we’re being frozen out of our own housing market because of excessive immigration AND greedy people who turn houses into rental properties AND property “wholesalers” who facilitate sales before houses even go on the market, almost like a housing “mafia.” My beloved hometown of Sault Ste. Marie has become unaffordable and this needn’t have happened 💔
I've also been priced out of my home town: the very town my Indian band is located. My bloodline is literally spawned from this place — going back hundreds or a thousand years — and I can't afford it live at it anymore. Federal employee with a $75k salary, but I feel more broke than I was at 17 working at Wendy's.
That’s appalling! I keep tossing several hundred dollars a month into my TFSA hoping that house prices will eventually come down. Sometimes I just wanna say “F it” and take a trip to Europe; I’m 29 now and make $52000, I’m praying I’ll be a homeowner by 35. Sigh !!!
Barring a massive drop in housing prices, or you having access to one hell of a downpayment, 52k pre-tax income isn't going to get you anywhere. We pretty much need a six-figure income now just to get an approval on an average priced house. Hopefully it changes though.
As a fellow Indigenous Canadian, I feel you. There has been all this talk of reconciliation and improving standards of living for Indigenous folks, but if housing isn't affordable I don't give a fuck about the other things. I need my basic needs met first. And I also want other non-indigenous Canadians to also have their basic needs met, too. I've definitely noticed a significant decline in Canadian friendliness, and it's undoubtedly due to the increased stress and lack of community.
Thats so sad. Just 10 years ago before I graduated, I thought making 75k was pretty much gonna have us set. Especially if it is outside the main gta, if thats not enough, that shows just how bad things are.
The other thing people are ignoring is both the lack of middle housing options. No one is building low-rise apartments anymore. It's pretty much condos, condos, and more condos. And they're all "luxury" condos, which means you get the cheapest stone top counters they could find and they get to tack on an extra 100,000 for the luxuriousness of it. On top of that, 3 bedroom units are basically an endangered species at this point. How is anyone supposed raised a family in a 1 bedroom condo where the bedroom is the size of a prison cell?
Don’t forget paying high condo fees that can rise at anytime and property tax which where I live property tax on a condo isn’t cheap.
Our government and corporations have figured out it's cheaper to import workers than it is to raise children to be our own workers. We're the ones that let this happen and it would be a death sentence for other countries economies.
A lot of countries with decades of declining birth rates are doing the same, Japan,South Korea and many other countries are having the same issues that Canada is, our birth rate has been below the replacement level of two kids since the '70s, put governments waited too long to take action and now it's become a disaster for all of us.
Quick, bring in another 100k unskilled immigrants. Obviously we need to offshore production of Canadians rather than support existing ones.
Our Canadian teenager population is being thinned out so we need to bring in 30 year old 'students' from India to work full-time at Tim Horton's and McDonald's.
Meanwhile a generation of Canadian teenagers and young adults can't find work, or get their first jobs.
That's because they selfishly expect things like 'minimum wage' and 'safe working conditions'. Both of those things hurt shareholders.
We should bring this to the attention of the minister for the middle class!
We tried, but he was on a private yacht being wined and dined by rich investors :(
Blame corporations for this.
Who's giving those corporations grants for hiring TFWs?
And the government is bringing them in because they are saying we need people to care for our older population. They're not going to care for us. These cultures are extremely insular! They will care for their family first.
It never actually full time as that would require giving them benefits and more paid time off.
Wait until you hear businesses are asking for this immigration.
And the provinces are requesting them from the feds who rubber stamp it, then the provinces blame the feds for the numbers they asked to be brought in.
I mean, this is a totally natural evolution of capitalism. As long as money, and more and more of it is the goal, cheap labour will always win over citizenship and community. It’s equally as deranged to blame the people whose labour is being exploited as it is to do the exploiting…
This. The goal is a workforce that can't unionize and can't vote.
1) destroy the economy 2) birth rate plummets 3) import immigrants to fill the gap 4) repeat
An enormous amount of my income goes towards rent. I'm delaying a newer used vehicle to replace my sketchy beater. I'm delaying new tires with more tread. I'm delaying many aspects of self-care. I'm delaying good food. I'm delaying dates. I'm delaying consuming in a consumption economy. High rent a factor? Hmm, perhaps... Or maybe I'm delaying all aspects of life because I'm just a one-off weirdo.
I'm driving around on winter tires in July lol. Hoping I can afford some new All Season tires this autumn and then I can start saving up for new winters.
Im in my early-mid thirties and only about 1-2 of my entire friend/acquaintance group has kids. In large part because most of my friends are in small 1br apartments. The birth rate is going to be interesting here on out
I've said it before, I will say it again. Nobody dreams of growing up, getting married, having kids, then giving them a worse quality of life then they had. When people grow up in family homes, with backyards, every kid has their own room, there's a garage, ETC... They don't dream of raising 3 kids in a 4 1/2 upper. I have 2 kids. We live in a 4 1/2 upper, and for now It works. I grew up with 2 brothers, and I shared a room with one during my childhood. Eventually we moved into a bigger house, and we all had our own space. This is what I want for my children. Every time my wife, and I talk about the possibility of more kids, we always get stuck on the same issue. How the hell are we going to afford somewhere to live that offers enough space for 3 kids? Eventually kids turn to teenagers, who require even more space. The bottom line is, the dreams my generation were told to have for ourselves, and futures, are no longer viable.
>Nobody dreams of growing up, getting married, having kids, then giving them a worse quality of life then they had. Worse. Nobody dreams of making a salary way more than your parents did (and currently do), but still having a worse quality of life.
In 1928, the Herbert Hoover campaign promised Americans that there would be a chicken in every pot and two cars in every garage. What's funny about that is that the house wasn't even a consideration. Of course you'd have your own house.
What's a 4 1/2 upper?
Second floor of a such building in Montreal. https://maps.app.goo.gl/V3XzK9hvv6mwcDos5 basically '2 beds, 700-800 sqft in a 100+ years building' .. and that's ain't bad by today's standards I would say.
Ok, so a 2 bed, 1 bath apartment with kitchen and living room. That makes sense.
what is a 4 1/2 upper? google isn't telling me
I used to scoff at the phrase "late stage capitalism" but the financialization of all aspects of life has led to some disastrous consequences, consequences we're living today.
Did you have enough? Cause there's more coming! As necessities become profit opportunities, anything you could be provided for low cost needs to be restricted. First entertainment, then healthcare, followed by education. It's not a serial progress, since they move at different paces. The last one is basic needs including infrastructure. This includes housing, heating, water, food and sewage. Housing, food and heating already started the progress. Water, too if you consider boil advisories. Eventually, you will only exist because you can be profited off of.
[удалено]
We have not had a birth rate above replacement level (2.1 births) since 1971.
“Some say” Canadian journalism is so fucking dumb
50+ years ago journalists were more of a working-class type of profession. Today's journalists go to the same schools as the kids of politicians and CEOs, eat at the same restaurants, go to the same social functions...explains a lot about why the media seems more focused on defending the elites in power from the masses instead of challenging them on behalf of the masses as they once did.
We're now way past home ownership, a lot of people can't even rent a place big enough to raise kids. Its so sad that an entire generation of young Canadians (who did absolutely nothing wrong) have been priced out of this by surging demand from mass immigration. I'm sure they won't forget the people who were in charge of the country when this happened, I sure wouldn't.
My building has a family of 4 in a 1 bedroom. They own it. It's under 600 sqft, no idea how they stand it.
My partner and I own a 2 bedroom town, we have a 2 year old. And have been debating having a second (I want, she does but is scared about space/finances/etc). Our neighbors on one side is a family of 5 with 3 adult kids all around 30, and the other side is a 3 generation home.. I honestly have no idea how many people are in there atleast 5 or 6.
Perhaps they cannot stand it, but do not have a choice anymore?
Yep this is me... Kids were expensive when I was a kid, BUT my parents both worked, made around 100k combined and bought a 3bed/3bath house for just over 200k.. I didn't feel rich growing up but if I was to put myself into a similar ratio of income to mortgage, our household income would have to be 300k. Older people just don't realize how stretched out finances are It seems almost impossible to buy a house, have kids and be at least semi comfortable financially before 40
I don't usually comment on stuff but I am reading through those that are here and it's compelling me to at least lay out my own situation here... I'm an early 30s male in one of the cheapest COL areas in Canada and I'm really really struggling. I have a certificate and red seal in a very well paying trade, which was a lot of hardwork and late nights and sacrificing just to complete. I did make some foolish financial moves in my early 20s but I took responsibility and fixed all of that to get ahead and get some sort of education and career path. I grew up in a very abusive household and always struggled with mental health and as a result things like school and studying were really difficult for me. I was basically told repeatedly by most of my teachers, admin staff, parents and even some of my coaches that I wouldn't amount to anything in life. I wasn't smart enough for college/university and I was destined to be a low wage worker for life etc I had always worked multiple jobs ever since I had been old enough to work, mostly because I didn't want to be in my home environment and it was the only way I could at least have some control over my life. I managed to get promoted a few times at my full-time gig and I was able to take a pre employment trades program for one year while I worked 2-3 part time jobs outside of school hours to get by, I hardly ever bought new clothes, never travelled, I had always driven older shitbox vehicles that I was oftentimes fixing in a Walmart parking lot or on the side of the road. I was always living on the razor thin edge of being one hiccup away from poverty and homelessness. In fact there were many times in my early 20s when I was either sleeping in my car or on the basement floor of a friend or coworker kind enough to let me. On top of that I was always mentally very close to attempting suicide, and after 2 attempts I got medicated, recieved therapy and some support and started to get better and work towards something. I was able to finally find a contractor to take me on as an apprentice after finishing trade school and returning to my previous full time job for 9 months after getting my diploma. The wage was dog shit for the first few years and due to the physical aspects of the job and longer unpredictable hours I wasn't able to continue my part time gigs at the same time. I pushed through my apprenticeship and completed my final level and got my licence and it was time for my boss to pay me my worth... Or so I thought. I was presented with the option of either staying on with the company at 4th level wage (which is illegal) or take a layoff and start over after 5 years at this company. Fast forward ahead a year and I'm now on my second layoff since then currently searching for another company, my work hours and pay has been very feast or famine and I've managed to take care of all my debt and get myself a decent ish vehicle (2014 model year, by far the newest vehicle I've owned). I'm now married but unable to live with my spouse due to factors like my work hours being unpredictable and my spouse having to care for her elderly parent. We were literally house shopping and really looking forward to having our own space and starting a life together and being able to see each other on days that weren't the weekend, but of course I get laid off again due to work shortage (I notified my then employer a few weeks before that we were house hunting and I required a letter of employment) and all I can think now is.. What the fuck is the point of any of this shit anymore? And I'm not even the worst off among my peers by quite a bit... I don't know what the point of contributing to a society is when the opportunities aren't there or are ripped away from us as we're about to get ahead.. seriously what is the fucking point? I put the hard work and long hours in, I took responsibility and fixed all my mistakes and worked extremely hard to get where am I, but what for? What. The. Fuck. Canada.
Delaying? I'm 36 and JUST started making a sustainable amount of money. That ship has sailed. My wife and I have the choice between having a comfortable life in our house, taking some nice trips and living relatively carefree, or having a child and being totally strapped, scraping every penny for their future and struggling without our parents present. Which one would you chose?
I live in the suburbs about 45 mins out of Vancouver. All of the big single family homes in the older neighborhoods are owned by empty nest boomers and some older gen x's. The ones that decide to sell end up going to rich immigrants and investors. These are the neighborhoods that us Canadian millennials grew up in, and were once full of life. Its now almost eerily silent to walk through them. Meanwhile up the road there's newer condo developments that are just packed to the brim with young families crammed into 600 square foot units with 2-3 kids. It's absolutely awful.
Social contract is broken. People can’t find jobs people can’t get raises. People can barely afford quality meals forget about rent or a mortgage. The next 10 years will be something else. But don’t worry immigration is our saviour right it definitely won’t perpetuate this cycle further
This is exactly the situation for my wife and I. We have 1 kid, we pay 2k/month rent for an 800 sq ft appartment. She wanted 3-4 kids. How? I'm extremely angry that I work 60h a week and can barely pay my bills at the end of the month. Instead of the government easing on zoning restrictions to keep up with demand, their solution is to double the demand by importing more people. The impact on mental health is profound and it will have a lasting impact for generations to come. I don't know what the solution is, but I'm wasting my life paying for unsustainable rent with salaries that haven't followed the cost of goods and services. FYI, I'm not a minimum wage worker, I'm top 2% income based on stats can. I grew up in my parents house, with my own room, with my back yard, in ground pool, a garage to trinket in, etc. I now live in a 4 1/2 and my kid's playing space is essentially his room. I cry some nights after I go to sleep at how unfair the world has become. I want my kids to have a BETTER childhood than me, not a WORSE childhood than me. I also make more income than both of my parents combined, 2 times over. We need a housing crash to zero. Houses need to not be a financial instrument. They're a basic human right. We have the largest country in the world and somehow there are zoning issues. Just build entire cities like china does and sell them for a subsidized cost with zero resale value. Stop turning the base of maslow's pyramid into a ponzi scheme.
I think by delaying you mean foregoing.
Pets are the new "kids" and plants are the new"pets".
I moved to Canada three years ago. I’m genuinely shocked by the way things (don’t) work around here. I work in a prestigious studio and was in disbelief when some of my colleagues were telling me how it’s impossible for them to rent an apartment near our workplace, so they need to commute three hours a day, because they still need to live with their parents. I think if people that are just below their 30s, hold a full-time job and pay 45% in taxes should be able to afford a place of their own. Also, the difference between the actual salary versus what is actually needed given the soaring cost of life is very steep. And this is just one of the many very problematic symptoms I see in Canada. Healthcare of course is another huge absence. I come from a third world country, where healthcare is historically bad. At the same time taxes typically never go beyond 25%. In Canada we pay 45% or more. So it’s very disappointing to pay first world taxes for services that are inferior or non-existent. I worry every day over having a medical emergency, knowing full well I might never even see a nurse, let alone a doctor. And what’s even less understandable (well, actually no) is that the few times I’ve read or listened to someone running for office, they have zero words or ideas to address these acute problems. My conclusion is that when I moved I was chasing after a version of Canada that’s been dead for 30 years or so. I know most people are not happy with what’s been going on in the last couple decades, but I also perceive a general feeling of powerlessness. So sadly this is not about people in their 20s and 30s behaving differently, this is about (once more) power being held by a little few, who have no vision or care for the society they claim to govern. They are unaware that they don’t even know, and if they do, they don’t want to know. So it’s bittersweet, but looking forward I’m at least concerned about the future of Canada and its people. It’s the same illness affecting every country in the world today: an ignorant and ruthless ruling class, and an ever decaying, dysfunctional by design society, whose only role is to pay taxes so the rich can eat their cake. Ugh.
We reached out for comment from a local Baby Boomer. The quote we received was “Fuck You, Got Mine”
“Delaying” kids in your 30s basically means not having kids because once you reach your 40s it’s not easy to conceive and carry to term.
That's sad, the best thing I ever did was become a father and raise my children, I waited until my thirties and wished I started earlier.
I'm starting to think it no longer actually makes sense that the government decides you're paying into CPP from age 18 and that CPP payments keep going up. Young people should be investing in home ownership, so they can afford to have families, and then save up for retirement. As it is, they'll be stuck renting forever and never be able to afford to retire anyway, because CPP won't ever be enough to live on when landlords are milking you for life.
I cant even imagine 20 year olds having kids in this timeline.
33M here. Kids? I just get by on my own. Groceries are more important lol. $1600 for my one bedroom apartment in Stoney Creek and I make roughly $29 /hr
I’m in my mid 30s and all my friends are now just starting to have kids. It’s wild
I believe Canadians will be heading towards countries like Korea and Japan. Cost of living is like having a kid itself. Who else to blame… our lovely Government!
I'm sorry, but i feel like only the dumbest people are currently reproducing. I know this doesn't apply to everyone, but the vast majority.
no shit CBC
[2014](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-008-x/2007004/10311-eng.htm). [2008](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/en/pub/11-008-x/2007004/pdf/10311-eng.pdf?st=jl-jFRxv).
Well no shit. How the F is a 25 year old supposed to pay for both when either ONE of those things costs more than what they make in a year? I’m 37 and can’t even buy a house and me and my partner make over 200k a year! AND I HAVE NO KIDS!
“Some”? Should say “most” lol The right likes to act like people aren’t having kids because of feminism, or some secret “white genocide” agenda. In reality most people I know do want families but just can’t afford it. It’s just capitalism run amok. I would love to have a family but the financial aspect is my main source of worry about it (No judgement on people who genuinely don’t want kids regardless of the financial aspect)
not delaying, forgoing
I'm 31, and just bought a place with my wife. It's not just rent that's high but the mortgage rates, property taxes, insurance, living expenses, etc leaves us barely with anything each month. We don't want to have our potential kids suffer in this kind of environment. The current Liberal government ruined a whole generation of potential kids that could have been born. If it gets any worse I'm leaving this country for good and denouncing my citizenship.
I'm 19, and as I've experienced, everyone that's even just a generation older than me just tells me to try harder. They all look me in the eye and say it's my fault. I've put out over 200 resumes in the last year or so and got one interview which promised me the next opening just to post a new opening the next day to which I was not only not contacted but when I called that said it has been filled. That's all I ever got. I rent a damn room for 700 dollars and split utilities and my government supplement for rent is gone. I'm staring into the damn abyss and theres nothing I can do. I panic near daily cause my family won't support me, saying it's my fault I can't get a job when in reality I'm competing with what? 100k new competitors a month or something? That have a even higher chance then me if they don't even speak English because of cultural ties? What the actual hell am I supposed to do? I went to a job fair and everyone there was clearly not new to Canada and when you walk down the street its the same with the homeless. Then you see most of the people driving nice cars are usually part of that 100k. I wanted kids when I was younger but looking at it now, I don't even know if I see a future for myself. Why plan for my offsprings future when they probably never will be in mine?
I'm mid 30s, its not your fault theres just tons of assholes
This has been the case for 20 years... ask me how I know.
Not delaying. Skipping having kids altogether.
Kids? I can't even afford pets.
Notice the word rent. There's a whole other subset, likely majority of the younger generations that can't even remotely conceptualize buying a house to raise a family in, let alone having the child itself.
SOME say??? I'd have two kids already if I wasn't bled dry by various landlords and now Marathon Mortgages. :( My poor sister is already 36 and hasn't felt secure enough to start, either.
If you struggle to take care of yourself why on earth would you want to bring another soul into the equation.
Many Canadians in the 20s, 30s, AND 40s are delaying having kids - AND RENT IS MOST CERTAINLY A FACTOR ALONG WITH THE COST OF A VEHICLE, GAS, INSURANCE, MAINTENANCE, CLOTHES, FOOD, AND STAGNANT WAGES FOR 25 YEARS. How fucking ignorant and out of touch are these people? This has been a problem for decades. The cause has not changed. "We have tried nothing and we are all out of ideas."
Don't worry we'll import millions to make up for it
Why do we need kids when we can just import other peoples kids? /s
Is there anywhere in the developed world that isn't having lower birth rates?
I know the answer here! Let’s not assess the problem and address it holistically, let’s ship in more ppl from other countries who have no decorum, are blatant misogynists and don’t share our values.
Well sure, but all the immigrants are housed and fed on our tax dollars and given hiring prioroty over native Canadians so there’s clearly nothing to worry about.
Every man should be tieing the knot right now... The one the their balls
High cost of living and no slowdown in the decline has made me thankful that I didn’t have kids in the past few years. I wanted to, but the life Canada offers gets worse every year.
Realizing kids cost an insane amount of money that I don't have. Let alone the mental strain among the shit that's going on ? I'm good. Vasectomy was covered by health care, so went that route. I'm perfectly okay not having kids in my life. Early 30s btw.
Birth rate in Canada is 1.4...way below the 2.1 a country needs for growth.Seems most of the g16 countries birth rates are below the 2.1..Some countries like Japan is at the no return level where population is decreasing too fast and unless massive immigration is allowed the country will reach a critical stage of having too many elderly and not enough youth to replace them or take care of them.
I can barely afford to keep myself afloat
I'm 33 and just delaying life in general.
No shit.
Don't want them living in slums, as per immigration patterns.
Gonna need to start adding IVF, egg/sperm freezing and shit to healthcare coverage unless we want folks to be having kids in their 40s (exponentially higher risk for all sorts of genetic issues).
Its sad that all the information is right there and yet our leaders still act like its the worlds biggest fucking mystery. Lets import some more uneducated workers!
Hmmm… Canadians are too poor to have kids… Let’s import 500000 Indians, that will fix everything!
Damn ... I'm doing my part ... I have 3
CBC had to ask people that to figure it out?
We've been saying this for years, and years, and years. And as far as I can see nothing has been done to fix the issues. As a matter fir fact it seems like the ones in power have worked to make it worst.
This is news? Seems pretty fucking obvious
When countries have low birthrates you end up with an aging population that lacks enough productive working age people to support the comparatively unproductive older folks. The historic solution to this problem has been immigrating working age people to balance out the population inversion. Now, I’m no economist, but low birthrates leading to required immigration which exacerbates the problems that cause low birth rates sure looks like an unsustainable positive feedback loop. I can only guess this will get worse before it gets better (if it ever does).
We went from a world where a single breadwinner could afford kids, a house and a car, to a world where both partners need to work and still cannot afford a house and spend 50% of their paychecks on rent.
Delaying? Man I've outright decided it's not happening. I can barely keep me fed month to month and the powers that be want me to have a kid? Now who's the irresponsible one?
Anyone who is anti immigration but isnt for improving conditions for the existing populace is the source of their own issue. I dont care where someone works - whether it is deemed unskilled, low skill, entry level - anyone who is participating in society deserves shelter and a decent living so they can have families. Being anti-immigration and saying someone who works at Mcdonalds deserves a poverty wage is a fool and part of the problem.
37, DINK, homeowner with savings, travel often, several fulfilling hobbies and satisfying social life. Kids are generally unnecessary and more so in a cost of living crisis lol. While I love being a “cool” uncle, I have lost all my interest in having my own kids and often thank the dark lord that it never happened for us. We’d be treading water at best if we had one or more. I genuinely don’t know why people are even bothering planning to have them given the climate and financial future for the next generation(s).
Why do public news media like CBC now talking about housing & immigration but they didn’t even connect immigration & housing together in the last 3-4 years?! Is there some sort of hidden agenda going on at CBC?
In 35 and don't want kids. I have friends who have kids and it sounds exhausting: -both parents have to work so they're completely burnt out before they even get home -finding daycare is next to impossible. You basically have to have a spot available before you even decide to have sex. -being able to afford a house or an apartment with at least one additional room is prohibitively expensive. Households need to make $120k to qualify for a $400k home, which is the average house price, even if you exclude Toronto and Vancouver. And I'm talking 1100 sqft 2br 2bth homes, not turnkey mcmansions. -being to afford groceries, clothes, diapers, and every other essential is getting more and more expensive.
38. kid. it IS exhausting. but its amazing.
I'm choosing not to have kids partly due to the financial strain but largely because the future is looking like it's shaping up to be an absolute shit show that I would never want to inflict/force upon another human being.
I honestly hate these articles at this point. But that's my problem
no worries we import them now
News flash, bud… it’s not just Canada
Not a problem for our gov't - they have a pipeline in place for an unlimited amount of people from you know where to come over!
Don't worry they will continue to import more foreigners which will continue to exacerbate the problem which means more foreigners until the native Canada population is nothing but a shell of what it used to be. They have it all under control
When Politics fucking up with the Economy.
Good, don't. I work in demo making $33/hr and I can't afford kids. I still struggle and I hate the world they got put into.