OTTAWA, ON – A report prepared for the Privy Council by Policy Horizons Canada earlier in January forecasts a state of affairs by 2040 that can only be described as a society on the brink of collapse. The government report, titled Future Lives: Social Mobility in Question, suggests that by 2040, most Canadians will find themselves stuck in the socioeconomic conditions of their birth, with clear lines demarcating those born into generational wealth, and the rest stuck on an inescapable downward slope. The report characterizes higher education as mostly unattainable to those not born to wealth, with dreams of home ownership all but shattered, and the poor being forced to resort to hunting, fishing, and foraging without regard to regulations simply as a means to survive.
The grim scenario depicted in the report sounds more like a dystopian fiction more than a government publication, were it not for the warning signs already evident. Housing today is becoming increasingly unaffordable, with many priced out of home ownership completely. Wages have not kept up with inflation. Taxation continues to climb while the government finds new inroads to transfer Canadian’s savings upwards. Immigration has been driven to unsustainable levels and the effects on the healthcare, housing, and job markets are being felt countrywide, and this is before Mark Carney’s insane $226B platform pours fuel on the fire. In this context, the projections Policy Horizons make are completely plausible.
With a focus on social mobility, the report is correct to forecast a scenario in which social interactions become polarized along wealth disparities; history is replete with examples in which resentment the poor feel towards those born wealthy tips over into polarization and outright hostility. Though the report doesn’t outright state violence, its hint at the potential for “serious social or political conflicts” leaves little doubt how such a situation could boil over into inter-class aggression. Predictably, some would scapegoat and direct their hostility towards immigrants or other identifiable groups; envy towards a people whose governments haven’t picked the proverbial last meat off their bones to benefit the ruling class would be a very expected sentiment.
Mental health crises stemming from increasingly denied access to food, housing, and basic needs would overwhelm an already decimated social safety net, and frustration would give way to an apathy that would do away with any desire for advancement among disaffected youth and families. Younger people and those with mobility may simply leave for greener pastures, while those who remain turn to alternate means of attaining goods that are beyond taxation. Without the working-class tax base bloated governments depend on, and with immigration falling to record levels – along with the inevitably taxable wealth immigrants bring – it is reasonable to foresee that government would simply collapse into an ineffective and disrespected state of being. In a word: hopeless.
It is interesting to note that despite the misery evident in their forecast, the report’s authors betray the relatively lofty comfort from which they generated this publication. “People may lose faith in the Canadian project,” they posit, apparently not recognizing that in their scenario the majority of the country would be well beyond worrying about “The Canadian Project” – Canadians are already well on their way. With a government seemingly hellbent on disarming the population before society approaches this fathomable state of affairs, the population may find itself in conflict with the ruling class earlier than predicted.
