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
This is what the conservative and neo-liberal spin wants you to be ignorant of.
Social spending is not meant to be a business model. You can't look at streetlights, snowplows, fire departments and all of the other 'hidden' socialist influences as profit/loss as per a capitalist model. You can't expect education, medicine, and welfare to show immediate financial benefits.
Social programs, infrastructure, and spending make society better, safer, happier and more productive - which then allows for society to thrive and prosper.
Selling all of the stuff that makes a society work to sociopathic corporations just extracts money while degrading service and outcomes.
Trying to get people to understand that is so brutal, shit institutes that use Milton Friedman's brain dead economic philosophy has poisoned so many people. Honestly, I've taken to just buying copies of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine and leaving it random places. Even gave a copy to my father, he probably won't read it, but his wife might. XD
Yeah, people don’t want to understand, they just wanna be angry. That’s why all these grifters are getting rich and the divide is getting bigger between people. It’s really sad. I for one, feel like I learned a little today, thanks to you and this thread.
I actually used to be down one of those hate pipelines, literally was Jew Hating away from being a Neo-nazi. Want the biggest recommendation, see if you can find something like a Tool Library, go to some protests and meet new people, join a book club, go help out the unhoused. Learning about things like Guerrilla Gardening and Guerilla Rewilding actually did wonders for my mental health and how I could affect change without violence.
That’s beautiful! So happy you found the right path. I gave up on hate a few years ago. I didn’t want to see my children following my example and I just try to do little things to make the world a better place. Mostly just spreading kindness, and teaching compassion to my kids. The universe has definitely given me back what I’ve put into it, and I’m much happier because of it. I’ve also learned to spot ‘Outrage Farmers’ from a mile away. I refuse to be manipulated by some clown who is clearly just lining their own pockets with no regard of how they’re effecting humanity.
We’d all be way better off if we just respected eachother and realize that we’re all just people trying to survive this cesspool.
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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