Entry 5

Seniors in Canada outnumber kids under 15 for first time ever

Michelle McQuigge, The Canadian Press | September 29, 2015 | Last Updated:Sep 30 1:09 PM ET

Overview:

As of today Statistics Canada released their numbers of seniors above age 65 and kids under the age of 15 to find out that for the first time ever, seniors are outnumbering kids from the most recent study conducted July 1st, 2015. Stats Canada says that the aging of our baby boomers (babies born between 1946-1965) are what is the cause of this rare event where the seniors are more plentiful than young kids. The agency said the population growth rate for Canadians over the age of 65 was 3.5 per cent, nearly quadrupling the national average by 0.9 percent. The most serious implication of this happening is the increase of the Health Care System, this means that taxes may increase. A study done by Western University says that this impact of aging citizens isn’t just issue in Canada, but as well as Europe and Asia, which as of now has a much higher citizen rate than Canada presently. In Canada, New Brunswick currently has the highest senior rate with 19%, while Nunavut has the lowest with only 3.9% seniors. Another reason that they suspect is the cause for this is international migration rate is dropping each year. This means that family’s from around the world that has young kids are not coming into Canada, therefore not increasing the youth population. Last year the number was 0.7% for families coming to Canada and this year it’s dropped to 0.4%. With more seniors than youth, you would expect a bunch of new problems to arise over the next few years.

The picture above shows an elderly person and a younger person holding hands.

http://wpmedia.business.financialpost.com/2015/09/0929hands.jpg?w=620

My opinion

My initial reaction to first hearing that seniors for the first time are over populating the youth really surprised me, I did not expect that to happen. Seeing that I will be getting a job and starting a career for myself in the next few years as the baby boomers retire, I am worried that this may cause a large increase in my tax’s I have to pay so that it can go towards seniors health. By all means I am not saying I do not want to put some of my money to help others, I’m just saying that maybe Canada needs to start letting in some immigrants so that they can help pay those fees. Since they are saying there are more seniors than youth, that means that each young person making a living will have to pay a lot more money, rather than if Canada lets immigrants come in and help. In my opinion we need younger workers to help this economy grow and thrive, it would be not only beneficial for our nation but also for each individual citizen. In my conclusion to this, I hope that the newly elected government recognizes what is going on and makes a change, helping the seniors, the youth/developing workers and the country. 

Entry #4

Kelly McParland: Liberals release budget plan. Now they need to hope no one reads it

Kelly McParland | September 28, 2015 6:17 PM ET

Overview:

Justin Trudeau and the liberals just this past few days unveiled their budget plan, but they were hoping no one would see it. Yesterday when almost all of Ontario, and most the country, were watching the jay’s game, the liberals thought it would be a great opportunity to release their plans about their budget. Their plan was to release this information when the majority of the people would not see it, as well as there are not many Sunday newspapers anymore, it was the perfect time. They are seeking to get $3 Billion to try and balance their budget out, but are yet again targeting the rich. Trudeau wants to start taxing the small businesses and the wealthy Canadians who’s income are more than $200k a year. The second part of the plan was to find hidden “savings”, which basically means again, taxing the rich. The liberals did not want to reveal this information when most of the people could have accessed it because they think it would change some of the peoples vote and change their opinions on him and his group. For the people who did see it, they are angry that they would try to do slip the budget plan under the rug, and feel that the plan is stupid.

Above is just a picture of the liberals and a book with a quote by them.

http://wpmedia.news.nationalpost.com/2015/09/fedelxn_liberals_20150926-1.jpg?w=620

Opinion:

My opinion on this is I don’t agree with what they were trying to do. If Trudeau and the liberals are trying to win this election, every single thing they say should run through the voters first. If they say something that the voters do not like, then that’s it, you can’t try and reveal information that you don’t want the voters to see. I do not agree at all with them trying to come up with $3 Billion by taxing the rich and small businesses. The way I see it is like this; for people to become wealthy, somewhere in the family someone worked as hard as they could to make a good living for themselves and family so from them doing well in life and being successful means that the government will take more money from them is just stupid. As well as taxing small businesses. My opinion on that is small businesses are what run this country, what they should be doing is giving them money to help them out instead of taking money from them. Eventually these businesses will not thrive and may end up leaving. I do not stand by Trudeau at all, and you shouldn’t either.