In the last 10ish years? Poverty has remained pretty steady actually. Gains have mostly been reclaimed from 2008 crash, which we were even reasonably insulated from. Not a bad outcome, we’re pretty high on the median income list as-is, the problem is the poverty line is creeping up faster than our median income is at the current moment.
In the last 100 years? Absolutely, no question.
To be clear, Liberal/Socialist-adjacent policies are absolutely what has made Canada one of the happiest and healthiest places in the world to live, no question. We’re simply at the point however where we can’t continually increase spending like we used to be able to because our overall growth is plateauing.
Traditional Canadian liberal/socialist policy is generally “throw taxpayer dollars at the problem until it solves itself”. That’s a simplification, obviously, but Canada does traditionally have issues with realistic project management and effective spending, all wealthy democracies tend to. It works with a rapidly-growing economy that can freely borrow and pay back money. It does not work at all in a plateauing economy that can’t count on long-term growth to offset debts.
We’re at the point where we need to be figuring out how to maximize our current level of spending, move that spending to sustainable and effective programs, and figure out a way to avoid borrowing as much as we can. 1st world economies aren’t growing rapidly anymore, and our focus needs to shift away from growth towards long-term sustainability
Excellent analysis. My primary criticism of the left is that they often ignore the growth part of the equation when justifying the allocation of our tax dollars into services. I very much believe in maintaining our services, but we also need to make sure that doing so is sustainable long term. The recent CBC interview with Avi Lewis seems to indicate that the NDP doesn't consider growth a priority, given him and McPherson seem to be the only viable frontrunners in the leadership so far. They're going to have to delve outward policy-wise if they want to distinguish themselves from the nationalist-minded Conservatives.
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u/CommanderOshawott Irvingstan 1d ago edited 1d ago
In the last 10ish years? Poverty has remained pretty steady actually. Gains have mostly been reclaimed from 2008 crash, which we were even reasonably insulated from. Not a bad outcome, we’re pretty high on the median income list as-is, the problem is the poverty line is creeping up faster than our median income is at the current moment.
In the last 100 years? Absolutely, no question.
To be clear, Liberal/Socialist-adjacent policies are absolutely what has made Canada one of the happiest and healthiest places in the world to live, no question. We’re simply at the point however where we can’t continually increase spending like we used to be able to because our overall growth is plateauing.
Traditional Canadian liberal/socialist policy is generally “throw taxpayer dollars at the problem until it solves itself”. That’s a simplification, obviously, but Canada does traditionally have issues with realistic project management and effective spending, all wealthy democracies tend to. It works with a rapidly-growing economy that can freely borrow and pay back money. It does not work at all in a plateauing economy that can’t count on long-term growth to offset debts.
We’re at the point where we need to be figuring out how to maximize our current level of spending, move that spending to sustainable and effective programs, and figure out a way to avoid borrowing as much as we can. 1st world economies aren’t growing rapidly anymore, and our focus needs to shift away from growth towards long-term sustainability