Generational imbalance and other Problems in Canada

Back in April, Christian Courier gave three university students a two-part assignment. First, to write an opinion piece sharing their view on the election (published online before we voted). Second, a letter to the new PM, whoever he might be, written after April 28. We hope you’ll appreciate hearing the hopes and fears of these younger voters. As you read their letters to Mark Carney, maybe you’ll be spurred on to connect with a young person in your life and find out what they think about the issues facing our country today.

To The Right Honourable Mark Carney,

The strength of democracy depends on the resilience of the losing side to congratulate the winners. I did not vote for you on April 28, but I respect your accomplishments as a public intellectual and leader. I applaud you for your ability to run a successful campaign and rescue your party from a major slump in the polls. Now I pray the same prayer as the Psalmist did for King Solomon in Psalm 72 1-2: “Endow the king with your justice, O God, the royal son with your righteousness. May he judge your people in righteousness, your afflicted ones with justice.”

Tin men and scarecrows

What shocks me most about your victory is the demographic shift it reveals. Forty-one percent of younger Canadians (age 18–34) voted Conservative, while 32 percent of the same age demographic voted Liberal. Conversely, for Canadians 55 and older, 34 percent voted Conservative while a whopping 52 percent voted Liberal. It’s a surprising reversal of the old Churchillian adage, “If you’re a conservative when you’re young, you have no heart, and if you’re a liberal when you’re old, you have no brain.” If Winston Churchill is right our country may now be filled with Tin Men and Scarecrows.

Though young conservatives are sometimes unfairly seen as cold or indifferent, my prayer is that my generation is not looked upon with apathy. Zoomers struggle the most with anxiety, stress and depression, and we increasingly face financial and job instability as well as skyrocketing mortgages and housing prices. My humble petition is that you would take steps to counter Canada’s intergenerational imbalance. Take the advice of Paul Kershaw of Generation Squeeze and revise Canada’s OAS (Old Age Security) program so that some of that financial assistance can be redistributed and redirected to younger generations through, say, student loan relief.

Restoring faith

More broadly, consistent with my previous article (“A vote for our economy,” published online April 24, 2025), your government must place economic growth at the center of its agenda, particularly in preparation for a second Trump administration. You will need to do a better job than your predecessor at having fiscal prudence, opening up to the business community, and creating the necessary conditions for investment to adjust to the changing circumstances of Trump’s aggressive mercantilism.

Lastly, I pray for a legislative change on an issue that has been pushed to the sidelines during the election season. Tap into your Catholicism to realize the violation of human dignity at the hands of the MAiD program. This is not the only moral stain that Canadians have to lament, but denormalizing death as a solution to suffering will certainly be a step towards upholding the common good of Canada.

Asking a politician to use his faith as a resource for political action may come off as dicey. But I believe religious commitment is the most effective stronghold in such volatile and uncertain times. Show Canada and the rest of the world that dedicated followers of Jesus have an unseen advantage when it comes to bolstering peace, order and good government. Our worship of Christ will wake us up to the reality that political ideologies are nothing more than modern idolatries.