Young Canadians are now less happy than seniors, and the gap is getting worse.

The latest World Happiness Report shows Canadians under 30 have fallen to 71st in the world for life satisfaction, while Canada’s overall ranking has dropped from 5th to 25th. In this episode, Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern break down what’s driving the decline — from housing affordability and falling “option freedom” to expectations, social media, and why the drop is concentrated in countries like Canada, the U.S., the U.K., and Australia.

We also explain how the World Happiness Report actually works, why expectations matter as much as income, and what policy choices may be making young Canadians feel like they’re playing by a different set of rules.

Chapters

00:00 Intro: The U-Shape of Happiness and Midlife Crisis

00:51 Canada's New Phenomenon: Young Adults Are Less Happy

01:48 From 5th to 25th: Canada's Global Happiness Ranking

03:00 How Happiness is Measured: The Gallup Poll Ladder Question

04:43 The Fundamental Equation of Happiness: Expectations vs. Reality

06:11 Canada's Mixed Ratings: Inequality and "Option Freedom"

07:18 Social Media's Impact: Passive vs. Communication Platforms

08:50 The Real Solution: Fixing Middle Class Housing and Policy Choices

Research/links:

World Happiness Report 2026 | The World Happiness Report

https://www.worldhappiness.report/ed/2026/

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

Canada has a massive problem: our national productivity is near the bottom of the G7. Decades of government policies, from free trade to tax cuts, haven't worked.

Why? Because policymakers are focused on greed (incentives) and not enough on fear (competition and risk).

We dive into the core failure of Canadian economic policy, exposing how corporate welfare and easy access to foreign workers kill innovation. Plus, hear the shocking truth about why Canadian retailers won't stock products from homegrown businesses until they succeed in the U.S. first.

We discuss Charles Lamman’s critique and Don Drummond's "confessions" to find out how to fix Canada's risk-aversion crisis and finally push our economy forward.

Chapters:

00:00:00 | Defining Productivity: Real GDP per Hour Worked

00:01:42 | Canada's Long Decline: The Charles Lamman Critique

00:03:15 | Don Drummond’s Confessions: The Failure of Decades of Policies

00:04:14 | Red Tape: The Omission That Stops Building

00:04:51 | The Core Flaw: Too Much Greed, Not Enough Fear

00:06:46 | Corporate Welfare and the Temporary Foreign Worker Trap

00:08:01 | Canada’s National Risk Aversion: Why Retailers Look South

Research:

Labour productivity and related measures, by business sector industry, seasonally adjusted, fourth quarter 2025

Productivity is an urgent problem for Canada. The response? A 15-year study

Confessions of a Serial Productivity Researcher

Canada: Q4 Productivity Slips Under the Weight of Tariffs and Uncertainty

From Bad to Worse: Canada’s Productivity Slowdown is Everyone’s Problem

Eighteen ideas on how to kickstart the Canadian economy

What Is Canada’s Productivity Performance and How Does It Compare to Other Countries?*

Towards An Inclusive Innovative Canada

https://canada2020.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/020317-EN-FULL-FINAL.pdf

https://www.ft.com/content/b7e6996b-f896-4a45-aad3-d1068e88341a?syn-25a6b1a6=1

Out of Nowhere: How Canada Fell Behind Alabama

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.

If birth rates are falling, is it really because people want fewer kids—or because they feel like they can’t afford them?

In this episode, Cara Stern and Mike Moffatt unpack the growing gap between “preference” and “choice” when it comes to starting a family. From the rising financial and social costs of raising children to the pressure of modern parenting norms, they explore why having kids today feels harder, even for people who say they want them. The conversation dives into everything from delayed careers and housing affordability to the hidden impact of social media, the “arms race” of parenting, and what we can learn from Quebec’s subsidized childcare experiment.

The big takeaway: there’s no single cause and no single fix. But if we want a society where people can truly choose the family size they want, we may need to rethink everything from childcare and housing to culture itself.

Research/links:

Fertility Postponement, Economic Uncertainty, and the Rising Income Prerequisites of Parenthood – van Wijk and Billari (2024)
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/padr.12624

Fertility Incentives in Canada: A Cohort Analysis – Lee and Liu (2024)
https://clef.uwaterloo.ca/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/CLEF-075-2024.pdf

The Role of Social Comparisons and Intensive Parenting – Mahler, Tertilt, and Yum, Brookings Papers on Economic Activity (2025)
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/5_Mahler_Tertilt_Yum_unembargoed.pdf

Not Just Later, but Fewer: Novel Trends in Cohort Fertility in the Nordic Countries – Demography (2021)
https://read.dukeupress.edu/demography/article/58/4/1373/174063/Not-

Just-Later-but-Fewer-Novel-Trends-in-Cohort
Workism and Fertility: The Case of the Nordics (2024)
https://www.aei.org/articles/workism-and-fertility-the-case-of-the-nordics/

The Effect of Family Fertility Support Policies on Fertility – Zhang et al. (2023)
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10049131/
Fertility trends across the OECD: Underlying drivers and the role for policy:

Society at a Glance 2024 | OECD
https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/society-at-a-glance-2024_918d8db3-en/full-report/fertility-trends-across-the-oecd-underlying-drivers-and-the-role-for-policy_770679b8.html

Why Americans Are Delaying Parenthood
https://www.prb.org/news/why-americans-are-delaying-parenthood/

Canada is among countries with an ‘ultra-low fertility’ rate. What is behind the drop?
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/canada-is-among-countries-with-an-ultra-low-fertility-rate-what-is-behind-the-drop/

World Happiness Report 2026 | The World Happiness Report
https://www.worldhappiness.report/ed/2026/

She’s (Not) Having a Baby
https://www.cardus.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Shes-Not-Having-a-Baby.pdf

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux

Produced by Meredith Martin

This podcast is funded by the Neptis Foundation and brought to you by the Smart Prosperity Institute.