Downward By Design: What Canada's Future Holds For Your Children

Imagine a Canada where no matter how hard you work, how many degrees you earn, or how much grit you show, you still fall behind. A future where your last name and zip code matter more than your work ethic or ambition.

This isn’t dystopian fiction. It’s the very real future outlined in Policy Horizons Canada’s 2025 foresight report: “Future Lives: Social Mobility in Question.” If we stay on our current path, downward mobility could become the norm by 2040. The dream isn’t just fading, it’s reversing. And this isn’t just a government problem.

“Government is increasingly seen as part of the problem,” the report warns. “People may believe that no one is coming to save them.”

Let’s be blunt. No one is coming to save us.

The Canadian dream used to be straightforward. Work hard, go to school, get a job, buy a house, and live better than your parents. That ladder is collapsing, and the numbers prove it.

Post-secondary education, once the great equalizer, is now more likely to saddle young people with debt than deliver social mobility. Tuition has skyrocketed by more than 300 percent since the 1990s, and the average graduate leaves school with $28,000 in debt, only to enter a job market that often undervalues their degree.

Meanwhile, homeownership, long considered a pillar of financial security, is increasingly reserved for the wealthy. In 2023, over 60 percent of the average Canadian household income was needed just to make mortgage payments in cities like Toronto and Vancouver. That figure was only 32 percent in 2000. Without wealthy parents, most Canadians under 40 will never own property.

Wealth in Canada is becoming more concentrated than ever. The top 20 percent of households now control more than 67 percent of the nation’s net worth, while the bottom 40 percent hold just 2.7 percent. Wealth is no longer earned through hard work. It’s inherited. Your family’s financial status now matters more than your ambition.

Even our social lives are reinforcing inequality. Algorithms and dating apps are quietly sorting people into class-based bubbles. The wealthy date and marry within their circles. The rest remain locked out socially, professionally, and economically.

Artificial intelligence is wiping out stable careers. A 2023 Deloitte study found that 30 percent of Canadian jobs are at high risk of automation. Fields like clerical work, logistics, and finance are already being impacted. What’s replacing them? Gig work, short-term contracts, and unstable digital employment.

And as the middle class shrinks and financial independence erodes, new systems of control are being built in plain sight. Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) are being introduced globally, including in Canada. They’re promoted as efficient and secure, but they’re also programmable. That means the government could, in theory, restrict or reverse transactions based on policy or behavior. When combined with digital IDs and incentive systems, we’re looking at the framework for a social credit-style society. One where access to your money, travel, or opportunities could depend on your compliance.

So what do we do?

• First, we stop waiting. The systems we grew up trusting, like education, employment, and government, are no longer designed to help us. If we want to survive and thrive in the years ahead, we need to take control of our own future.

  
  

• Start by creating multiple income streams. Depending on one job or one employer is a high-risk strategy. Build something that belongs to you. That could be a small business, an online service, a rental property, or a digital product.

  
  

• Think about intergenerational wealth. Talk about money openly with your family. Buy property together. Teach your kids how to invest. The only way to compete with concentrated wealth is to start concentrating your own.

  
  

• Build or join cooperative communities. Whether it’s shared housing, group childcare, food co-ops, or mutual aid networks, people who work together are going to be far more resilient than those waiting on government support.

  
  

• Learn skills that artificial intelligence can’t easily replace. AI might generate content and handle data, but it can’t build homes, offer human care, resolve conflict, or manage physical systems. Learn something real. Make yourself essential in your local economy.

  
  

• Stop chasing status. Fancy degrees and job titles mean less every year. Focus on competence and community. Get good at something useful, and build relationships that actually support your life.

  
  

• Build parallel systems. This could mean starting an education pod, a local exchange network, or using decentralized tools and currencies. These systems may seem fringe today, but they may be the only ones left standing when mainstream options fall apart.

  
  

• Finally, consider the possibility that your future may not be in Canada at all. More and more Canadians are quietly exploring life in countries where the cost of living is lower, communities are stronger, and governments aren’t moving as aggressively toward centralized control. Whether it’s a temporary relocation, a second residency, or a permanent move, creating a Plan B outside of Canada may be one of the most strategic decisions you can make.

  
  

This isn’t about abandoning ship. It’s about protecting your bodily, digital, and economic sovereignty through proactive, intentional choices. You can still care deeply about your country and stand for your values. But real change is unlikely without widespread participation. In the meantime, you have every right to protect your future. Being strategic isn’t surrender. It’s how you win.

This isn’t fear-mongering. It’s reality. The data is clear. The systems are already being built. The warnings are over. Now it’s time to act.

No one is coming to save us. We're on our own. Godspeed.