The so -called middle class is the precious demographic of the politicians of Canada, pleased at each opportunity in electoral campaigns, such as the voting block to most Canadians see themselves belonging.
Almost all important matches have launched some type of middle -class tax cut in the campaign, in cuts that would take billions from federal coffers every year.
But the way in which Canadians personally define the middle class has changed, at a time when the typical characteristics of that lifestyle, such as owner of a house or taking annual vacations, are increasingly out of the reach of younger adults.
The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development defines a middle class member as anyone who earns between 75 percent and 200 percent of average family income after taxes.
Based on the most recent data of Statistics Canada, that is a wide range: from $ 52,875 to $ 141,000.
And for some young Canadians who work, it is difficult to achieve.
The third year nursing student, Opeyemi Kehinde, 35, works 20 hours a week as a personal support worker while going to the full -time school and raises five children with her husband, who works as a geologist.
Its definition of “middle class” is simply having enough money to survive for two weeks without payment. At this time, his family does not meet that threshold.
“We can barely afford the basics,” he said. “Simply go day by day and pray so that there is no emergency … and pray that you don’t lose your job or not get sick, just because you can’t pay it.”
His family moved from Edmonton to Cornwall, Ontario, in 2022, hoping that he would be more affordable. But rentals have increased, and have had to degrade when they rent a house full of a three bedroom apartment.
Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre and liberal leader Mark Carney have promised a reduction in income tax for the middle class if they form the government, but the NDP criticized the plans to include too many rich Canadians.
Kehinde says his family income was less than $ 40,000 last year. It is paying $ 1,880 per month for rent and its most recent hydroelectric bill, which covers the last two months, was $ 800.
It also found frustrating try to advance. Putting additional work schedules means incuring additional child care expenses, and she has no close Options during the night or weekends.
Meanwhile, the potential to advance in a tax group, or that is no longer income enough to qualify for certain social support, can have a lateral effect.
“I should feel that we are being encouraged to work, not punished.”
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The great 2023 Canadian class study found that 42 percent of Canadians were considered middle class, while around 17 percent were identified as a lower middle class and 17 percent as a high middle class.
The Professor of Sociology at the University of Alberta, Michelle Maroto, principal researcher in the study, says that the term is “murky” and difficult to define.
For major Canadians, he says that the key indicators of being middle class have not changed much, but younger people do not have those same expectations, and things have only become more difficult since the Covid-19 pandemic.
Maroto says that he would like to see politicians talk about a more progressive tax system as a form of leveling the field and finance public education, medical care and housing, which, according to her, could return the hope of making it the middle class for younger adults who feel discontent.
“One of the reasons why we no longer necessarily have that middle -class lifestyle is because … you have that higher percent of the people who move away from all in terms of income, in terms of wealth,” he said.
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Sam Reusch, a 35 -year -old girl in Montreal, is the executive director of a charity called Apathy Is Boring, where she works for young people to participate in politics.
She says that being middle class has a different meaning for her than for her parents. But although he graduated from the University just after the financial crisis of 2008 and has had an adulthood marked by precarious economic conditions, he still grew in the hope of having a house.
Many younger adults he works with, he says, are not even considering the possibility.
“They are like, ‘I just want to be able to stress myself to make my rent, and be able to pay edible and maybe some beautiful things,” he said.
Young Canadians have sacrificed security for the real estate market: professor
Paul Kershaw, founder of the non -profit generation Squeeze and professor at the School of Public Health at British Columbia University, says that age and housing patterns are transforming class dynamics in Canada.
Today, a young lawyer who wins six figures in Victoria, for example, could have difficulty finding a three -bedroom house to rent. Meanwhile, someone with a lower payment work that bought a house decades ago, could now be sitting on a property with a value of more than $ 1 million and, therefore, having the security that allows them to live more a “middle class” lifestyle.
Kershaw says that Canada has made a “political offer” during the last 25 years that has eroded financial security for young people, to protect unexpected profits from housing wealth for major generations.
“Politicians are generally going to say that we need to protect the eggs from the nests of an older population
“They are reducing their standard of living to provide protection. They are as shields against what could otherwise cause risks to the wealth that has been accumulated in housing by people of my age and older.”
He says that the common narrative of politicians about inflation that hurts “all” is not true if one takes into account that housing inflation technically makes many owners richer. His own home, for example, has increased by value by approximately $ 1.5 million since he bought it 20 years ago.
Liberals and conservatives have promised to eliminate GST in new houses as a way of making buying a house more affordable, but critics say that none of the plans will make a sufficient difference.
“When the value of a house can provide almost three times more prosperity than hard and day hard work for someone who is already well paid, has a problem in its economy.”
While recognizing that there are many good reasons why politicians and economists do not want a collapse in housing prices, he says he would like to see that politics is present that recognizes the sacrifice that the youngest Canadians are doing.
“If we are going to offer tax cuts of $ 6 billion or $ 14 billion, we really use a younger demographic group that is being supplied absolutely in our company.”
