An organization called The World Happiness Report has determined that, overall, Canada is a relatively happy place, ranking No. 15 out of 140 nations.
How exactly do they know?
Easy. They asked people the "Cantril ladder life-evaluation question."
LOL.
Specifically, they asked a representative sample of around 1000 people in each country in each of three years the following question:
"Think of a ladder, with the best possible life for you being a 10 and the worst possible life being a 0. Now rate your own current lives on that 0 to 10 scale."
On that basis, Canada ranked Nunber 15 out of 140 countries -- not bad for a cold and mostly uninhabitable land headed by Justin Trudeau.
Not so good is that, contrary to what one might expect, Canadian youth is a lot less happy that elderly Canadians.
Based on the "happiness" of those over the age of 60, Canada ranked No. 8 among nations, but among those under 30, Canada's ranking fell 50 spots to No. 58 -- behind not only obviously nice places like Denmark, New Zealand (despite that woman), Switzerland, and war-torn Israel, but even behind such places as Nicaragua, Honduras, Bosnia, and Bulgaria.
As a member of the "every morning when I wake up I know I'm a winner" class, I say with the authority of experience, that old age is no picnic.
So what, then, ails our Canadian youth?
Easy to see.
They are right royally screwed by Canada's criminally incompetant, or merely criminal economic and population policies.
The results of said mismanagement?
Sky high real estate prices, an interest rate rocketing from 0.25% in 2022 to 4.5% now, and possibly headed higher as the bank of Canada seeks to throttle the Trudeau-massive-debt-based-spending-binge-induced inflation.
Why do those economic stats matter to Canadians under 30?
Because those under 30's are the folks -- and the're not kids, seeking to form a household and raise a family. And here's how ordure-smeared the prospect is compared with the experience of these youngsters' happy elders.
Today, the average Canadian home price is around $792,200, while median family income is under $100,000, so the ratio of house price to young family income must be at least eight to one, and must, in fact, be much higher since incomes mostly rise with age.
How does that compare with the conditions faced by today's happy oldsters at the time that most of them bought a home?
Well I won't lay out a lot of boring stats, but here in Victoria, BC, perhaps the nicest place to live anywhere in Canada, and in the suburb of Oak Bay, undoubtedly the most upscale neighborhood in Victoria, we purchased a modest home on a double-sized lot for $68,000 (lot value around $8,000). That was in 1974 when our joint, not-much-above-average, family income was $40,000: so a house price to family income of just 1.7. Today, 50 years later, that house is valued at just under two million with a ot value of about $1.6 million, or about 200 times what we paid for it.
Now do you see why old folks are cheerful and the young are, um, well I don't use vulgar language here, but you see what I'm getting at. We bought a house, for what was, by today's standards, even after accounting for inflation, peanuts and for which we paid in cash from the savings from our modest earnings. But when we're dead, that house will likely go for millions to some hyper-mortgaged young couple.
So, yeah, we oldsters are laughing and you youngsters are either weeping or just mad as Hell.
Oh, and to toughen the struggle, the Trudeau genius administration has opened the floodgates to immigration, which is to reach a record 484,000 this year, rising to half a million next year. Thats 142,097 more than the number of Canadian births in 2023. And it's an influx of mostly young adults who will compete with Canada's young families not only for homes, but for jobs too.
No wonder the Canadian fertility rate is in free-fall, reaching 1.1 in 2023, when the mere replacement rate would be 2.1. For most young Canadian adults, no family home means no family. Thus, under the present administration, Canada is a country bent on self-genocide. We are replacing ourselves with people from elsewhere. For the most part good people, no doubt. BUT THEY'RE NOT CANADIANS.
Not Canadians yet, that is. But they soon will be, and not only Canadians but the majority and ultimately the replacement for the historic Canadian nation.
