Rick Mercer鈥檚 Talking to Americans special once asked our neighbours to the south to condemn our government鈥檚 practice of setting our seniors adrift on ice flows.
A glance around any Canadian community would confirm we don鈥檛 do that. If we did, we wouldn鈥檛 have hit this year鈥檚 tipping point: there are now more Canadians over 65 than under 15, for the first time ever.
This will no doubt spark some concerned articles about our aging population, and even the possibility of 鈥渄emographic collapse,鈥� as though we were facing a childless wasteland of a future.
We suggest that Canadian seniors will actually do pretty well in the coming years. There will be challenges, of course, but our country is wealthy, and no only do people generally want the best for their parents and grandparents, seniors are perfectly able to look after themselves. They鈥檙e a desirable demographic, much courted by politicians, thanks to the fact that they actually vote.
No, if we鈥檙e seeing more seniors and fewer children, we might want to be careful in the coming years not to neglect the next generation.
With a larger population retired and a smaller one replacing them in the workforce, we need to make sure that the children out there now are ready for the world they鈥檒l inherit.
It鈥檚 impossible to know with certainty what we鈥檒l face in the future, but the next generations will certainly face challenges. They鈥檒l be replacing many hands with few hands, as the number of children per family shrinks. They鈥檒l have to be trained to work smart, not just hard. It鈥檚 going to be creativity, flexibility, and skill that wins out in the future.
If we can鈥檛 make sure that the next generations are able to take their place in a globalized and often ruthless world economy, then who will take care of the growing ranks of seniors? Someone鈥檚 got to do it, and it will fall to those currently in elementary school.
鈥� M.C.
