Generational Strains: Why In Canada and Not in the US?

By Keith Edmund White
Editor-in-Chief


Are we approaching the era of the Discontent GenY in Canada and the United States? Macleans' Emma Teitel vents about Gen-Y frustration with their boomer counterparts, but beyond the moaning of today's admittedly rough economic landscape, how will a generation of Canadians and Americans deal with an apparent lean decade--and what will their politics be?

Today Emma Teitel writes on Gen-Y's frustrations with the dwindling economy and a seemingly lack of empathy from their baby boomer counterparts:

Unfortunately not everyone has such generous sponsors, parents or otherwise (or a sponsor who can afford to be that generous). In fact, most people don’t. Yet our elders in the Conservative party (ahem: “There is no bad job”) and the media (isn’t it awesome when Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente writes a column railing against Gen Y kids for not finding jobs followed by a column about how she’ll never retire?) point to ambitious grads like Smulders, or the Toronto girls who pitched a tent at a busy intersection to attract potential employers—in order to illustrate their allegedly simple and logical point: times are tough and us kids need to get off our butts and just work a little harder. In a recent column, the National Post’s resident killjoy, Barbara Kay, went to town on my generation after a twentysomething waiter knocked over a glass of water in her lap and didn’t apologize (which Kay immediately interpreted as, “Because being Gen Y means never having to say you’re sorry”). She was equally shocked and appalled that according to an October 2011 National Report Card on Youth Financial Literacy (which I have now seen cited in at least three Gen-Y bemoaning editorials) 70 per cent of high school students “erroneously assumed they’d own their own home in 10 years,” and “the average respondent overestimated his future earnings by 300 per cent.” Wow. Breaking news! Teenagers have dreams. Apparently it has become a crime to think beyond your means. 

The anti-youth, “kids these days” attitude of many older people today, in reference to the ongoing student protests in Quebec and the Occupy movement, is cynical beyond belief—especially coming from a generation that in their youth could afford to be protesting about “big” things like the military-industrial complex, and not “little” things like tuition hikes and unemployment. When Margaret Wente was 23 years old, a chocolate bar cost 10 cents and a box of Corn Flakes cost 25. Tuition at the University of Toronto was well under $1,000. My father, who is roughly the same age as Wente, says he could make enough money at his summer job (he was a camp unit head) to pay for his tuition at U of T in the fall. And his books.

But, one question: is this strain a bump in the road--after an admittedly painful and long economic contraction--or is it the beginning of a new generational split?

Yes, the United States has the occupy moment, which is dominated by young voices. But you don't see American students or U.S. youth protesting at their universities or, like in Spain, rallying in anger.

Part of this, of course, has to be that Americans have gotten used to ballooning economic costs, that where any discussion of actually dealing with it are considered pie-in-the-sky thinking. But if Canada and the United States have to grow accustomed to low-growth, long-term economies, I think there's something the new generation of political leaders have to learn: as the 20somethings turn into 30 and 40 somethings, their collective past and current desires of government are going to be incredibly different from liberal/conservative debates in each country; debates that appear increasingly irrelevant to addressing the issues facing each country and the global economy.

But, while Canada as the ascent of the NDP to perhaps deal with this realignment, the United States has no such luck. In any case, it will interesting to watch the ascent of the Ys.

And, as a small counterpoint to Teitel editorial: at least in the United States, every generation is guilty of rationalizing the intractable problems of economically suffering groups. In the 90s the lament was globalization and its discontents, with NAFTA destroying industrial jobs, but pumping up middle class 401ks and raising American GDP--while lowering the prices of goods. There are always winners and losers, and with no simple solutions, we can't blame the 'winners' with not sending us their checks or giving us sympathy. Instead, the challenge is how to unite the underlying economic challenges facing all generations and make a coherent platform that gets us out of the 'win-lose' paradigm.

But that question is considerably easier to write than to answer.