I love, absolutely love, this new short from Cara, on how the Scarborough committee of adjustment is rejecting perfectly legal housing projects due to vibes. Toronto's housing crisis in a nutshell.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/qls4e-zig-g

Despite very different methodologies and very different metrics, Canada has similar ranks on both the UN HDI and the World Happiness Index. There are some outliers on each list, but, typically, if you do well on one, you do well on the other.

New episode! We look at Canadians boycotting US goods, how younger Canadians are less likely to participate, "luxury beliefs", and how my car was recently destroyed in an ice storm.

Watch "Why Canada’s Wealthy Can Afford to Hate America" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAy0F_tacOg

New piece at the Hub! I drill into the numbers to show that GDP per capita is overstating Canada's quality of life, and a variety of other indicators show that we're falling behind our global peers... fast.

We're too complacent, and it's costing us.

https://thehub.ca/2026/02/26/canadas-global-performance-rankings-are-in-freefall/

Is much of the middle-class actually living in poverty? Today, we tackle the viral argument that we’re measuring prosperity incorrectly and that official statistics don’t properly account for the true costs of being middle-class.

New episode here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw-t76vlC5Q

Around this time last year, I sold all of my US stocks and reinvested 10% in Canada, 90% in non-US/non-Canada.

A year later, up 26%. Given the TSX is up nearly 35% y-o-y, I do wish I had invested more in Canada, but my portfolio was already overweight Canada to begin with.

Will be on CBC Power and Politics at 6:15PM EST, discussing the economy and the middle class. Watch or don't!

6. Increases traffic congestion and sprawl
7. Increases inequality
8. Increases political polarization
9. Harms our ability to deal with issues such as climate change
10. Increases homelessness

And, again, we bring receipts. 30+ of them.

Specifically, a lack of attainable middle-class housing:

1. Reduces productivity
2. Reduces innovation
3. Reduces entrepreneurship
4. Creates essential worker shortages
5. Reduces marriage rates and birth-rates

New piece. The middle-class housing crisis harms the economy, social cohesion, and society writ large.

That's not opinion: That's backed by 30+ academic studies. We bring receipts.

How Canada’s Middle-Class Housing Crisis Is Undermining Its Future

https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/how-canadas-middle-class-housing

To those suggesting GDP per capita isn't a great measure of wellbeing - note that it is the *one* measure of wellbeing where Canada's performing relatively well! Pretty much across the board, Canada's standard of living has been in decline relative to our global peers.

Two memes that need to die:
1. Housing affordability didn't become a problem until the pandemic.
2. Unaffordability happened everywhere, not just Canada.

On 2, the dynamics are very different globally.

New episode! We dive into the “Loneliness Epidemic” and the disappearing concept of the Third Place, those vital social hubs that aren’t home (the first place) or work (the second place).

Watch here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYFTsrvwr0o

The median income for a dual-income couple aged between 25 and 34 in the GTA is around $113,000.

Given that, what is an appropriate house for a 30-year-old couple, with a 5- and a 2-year old? And what should that home reasonably cost?

In 2004, a young couple could buy a brand-new family-sized starter home in London, ON for less than 3x their income. By 2019, that had risen to 6x. Today? 8x. And unless costs go down, it will take over 36 years to restore affordability.

Read more here: https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/new-starter-homes-are-now-twice-as

Since the introduction of the Greenbelt and the 2006 Growth Plan, there has been a massive shift in what gets built in Ontario... and what doesn't.

Since 2004, incomes for young dual-earner couples are up 76%. But new family-sized starter-home prices rose 265%. A generation of young families has been priced out of housing; it's time for governments to take the problem seriously.

Read here: https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/new-starter-homes-are-now-twice-as

Spoiler for tomorrow's piece. In 23 metros across Canada, median incomes for 25-34-year-old dual-earner couples are up 76%, in nominal terms, since 2004.

And the price of newly constructed family-sized starter homes? Up 265%.

New episode! Canada's unemployment rate, while decent, masks the "low-hire, low-fire" equilibrium we're currently in. That's great news if you have a job, not so good if you're looking for one.

Watch "Why Young Workers Feel Locked Out" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UcTsszcmVbo

Data for reference, from the OECD.

Link: https://www.oecd.org/en/data/indicators/population.html