Photo: Wayne Moore - Kelowna - Castanet

UBC Professor, Paul Kershaw

The amount of government support between seniors and those under 45 continues to widen - and Paul Kershaw, professor at UBC, says something needs to be done.

According to Kershaw, Provincial and Federal Government programs for those 65 and over in Canada amounts to $45,000 per person, per year.

At the other end of the spectrum, he says various government programs aimed at people 45 and under amounts to $12,000 per person, per year.

That inequity Kershaw says means parents of young families work harder and more hours to earn less pay and have less disposable income than the previous generation.

"I don't want anyone in this room to think the high spending per senior is a problem," says Kershaw who spoke Friday at the unveiling of the 2013 Central Okanagan State of the Child Report by Community Action Towards Children's Health (CATCH).

Kershaw says a generation ago 30 per cent of seniors in Canada were in poverty. Now, at 8 per cent, Kershaw says they are the least impoverished age group in the country.

"We didn't solve the problem by talking about poverty. We solved the problem by building policies that supported the vast majority that were getting closer to retirement," says Kershaw.

"When people are older they are more likely to get sick and a generation ago when they were getting sick they were more likely to go bankrupt when they wound up in a hospital. We didn't put in place medical care for poor people, we put in place medical care for the population."

That he says, combined with a build up of the Canada Pension Plan and Old Age Security and a reasonably strong economy helped reduce the senior poverty level by 75 per cent.

Kershaw says while life is better for many seniors - the same cannot be said for the 45 and under crowd.

"It (Canada) ought to also be the best place on earth also to raise a family. One way to know you are at least getting close to being in the best place on earth is to have a chance as a young person to deal with the fact wages are dropping for young people and the cost of housing has skyrocketed so much."

He says young people should be able to deal with those issues without having to "compromise either the family you started or the family you may one day wish to start."

According to Kershaw, adjusting for inflation, the average person age 25 to 35 is making $4/hour less, has a student debt 100 per cent higher and is being asked to pay $300,000 more for a home than a generation ago.

In order to help families rise out of the depths, Kershaw proposes two government policy changes.

• 18 months at home with newborns affordable for parents to share
• $10/day Child Care

Kershaw says it costs parents about $15,000 from their household income to share a year at home with a new baby. A better, more affordable at home program could drop that to $2,000 or $3,000.

Plus, an investment in daycare bringing the cost down to $10/day ($2,500/year) from $8,000 to $12,000 a year.

"If we were to do those two things we would save the typical young couple around $50,000 before their kids reached the age of six."

He says the two policies could be achieved by increasing the amount provincial and federal governments spend on programs for people 45 and under from $12,000 each per year to $13,000.

In order to evoke change in government thinking and policy, Kershaw says young people need to mobilize just as seniors did through the Canadian Association of Retired Persons (CARP) which helped make changes possible.

Kershaw says a March to 1 Million Membership campaign through www.gensqueeze.ca will help give young people a voice in affecting change.

Kershaw spoke to a room full of advocates Friday following release of the State of the Child Report which indicates the child poverty rate in the Central Okanagan is 17.5 per cent, slightly higher than the provincial average of 17.1 per cent.