Younger Canadians are Frustrated

I like the U.S., visit all the time… but I don’t want to be the 51st state. In this podcast clip with my former Dragons’ Den co-star Arlene Dickinson, we dig into Canada’s housing crisis, why young people are frustrated and what it all means for the future. Catch the full conversation on the latest episode of The Wealthy Barber Podcast!

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I do not want to be the 51st state. You know, I am a proud Canadian. I like the differences between the two countries. I like the US by the way. Visit there regularly. So I don’t have any animosity towards the US. Not thrilled at the recent behaviour on the high end but in general, I’ve got great relationships with US friends. But I don’t want to be the 51st state. I find 80, 90, 95 percent of my friends and colleagues don’t either. I think some younger people are more open minded to it because they’re frustrated. They’re frustrated with how difficult it is to buy a home. They’re frustrated with the cost of living in Canada, the taxes in Canada. So they’re a tad more open minded than our generation is and in between generations are. Do you think that’s right? Do you think that assessment stands up?

Yeah, I think you’re 100 percent right. I think we have done a very bad job of instilling patriotism in our children. And, and so I said to you earlier that my dad taught me to be proud, you know, like, to be grateful that I’m Canadian. And I think I tried to talk about that with my kids, but I think the next generation after my kids, because my kids are adults now, is, is lacking any sense of connection to the country.

And like you say, they’re feeling abandoned. They don’t feel, they can’t get a home, they can’t, you know, there’s, there’s so many challenges financially for young people to be able to feel that they can not just survive, but thrive. And so, and that’s not just a Canadian issue.

No, it’s not. You’re seeing in Australia, you’re seeing in a lot of the Western nations, uh, pockets in the US, pockets are not that way, but no, you’re right, it’s not just a Canadian issue, but it’s certainly exasperated here when you look at the debt, uh, relative to disposable income, etc. I mean, I’ve said repeatedly during other podcast episodes that we are battling a situation where without help from parents, you probably can’t buy a home in most geographical spots.

Well, that’s unfair. That’s not good for any of us. And what happens is that that high cost ripples through in so many ways. Even when people do get in, they can’t afford to do any proper saving. There’s not risk capital available to fund businesses to invest in that type of thing. People are taking fewer chances. All of those things flow from that. So housing affordability is a complex issue, not easily resolved, but it’s one we have to start addressing more successfully than we have.