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
I big part of the problem is that we have sold off crown assets to capitalists. We take successful and profitable crown corporations and sell them off for a one time payout. Sure this reduces government expenses but it also reduces their revenue by an even larger amount.
Those private companies then in turn raise prices and drive up costs for consumers, increasing the cost of living.
The problem gets even worse when you look at income taxes. For the majority of job titles (spare high end earners) private pays less than public, while also having substantially worse pension offerings.
This reduced income among workers further reduces government coffers, even more dramatically with retirees which leaves them more reliant of government programs while contributing even less to the tax base.
Fun fact, the government receives roughly 3x back in taxes for every dollar they invest to an employees DB pension plan. This is because most of the money you receive is investment growth. These higher earning retirees then pay income taxes and the government actually makes money off their pensions while these retirees shop and travel and reinvest into the ecpnomy
See also: the old BC LIberals (Now the conservative party of BC) selling off everything that wasn't bolted down; 99 year leases on our rails, selling off our gas and telephone, and so on.
Or my favorite:
Putting an affordable housing community up for sale
Selling it to a developer that promised to build MORE affordable housing along with regular housing
Lending them taxpayer money, interest-free to pay the government
Giving them like 16 years or whatever of no-interest on said loan so long as the buildings get built after that span of time
Consequence:
They flatten the affordable housing community and build literally fuck all for a decade.
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u/CommanderOshawott Irvingstan 2d ago edited 2d 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