Can Trudeau's budget restore 'generational fairness'? Economists say don't bet on it

The notion has gained a lot of traction in recent years — that an entire generation has behaved like selfish parents who, instead of bequeathing their house to their struggling offspring, trade it for a reverse mortgage and spend the money on cruises and country club memberships.

"If you look at [younger Canadians'] life prospects, I think it's fair to say that they have had and will have a more difficult time of it than, say, my generation, who were quite lucky in the post-war period," said economist Robin Boadway of Queens University.

The relentless focus of both opposition leader Pierre Poilievre and (lately) the Liberals on issues of affordability, especially housing, shows that both parties see them as key to winning over disaffected younger and first-time voters.

Access to secure housing matters so much more," said Paul Kershaw, a professor at the UBC School of Population and Public Health and founder of the group Generation Squeeze, which lobbies for what it calls "intergenerational equity."

Billions of dollars in debt governments took on to deal with events such as pandemic and the 2008 financial crisis have simply been added to the ledger as a problem for future generations.

Scotiabank VP and head of capital markets Derek Holt savaged the budget's claim of generational fairness in a Globe and Mail op-ed.