Thursday, December 15, 2005

We're Not Getting Any Younger

Buried underneath all of the election news is this CTV report warning that Canada's population is aging rapidly:

By 2015, the number of seniors aged 65 and older will be larger than the number of children under the age of 15 -- which is unprecedented in Canada.

And by 2031, the elderly segment of the population will range between 8.9 million and 9.4 million, while the number of children would range between 4.8 million and 6.6 million.

Projections show that aging will accelerate in 2011, when the first baby-boom cohort reaches the age of 65.

"This rapid aging is projected to last until 2031, when seniors would account for between 23 per cent and 25 per cent of the total population. This would be almost double their current proportion of 13 per cent," says StatsCan.


Our politicians dare not discuss the implications of such a demographic change openly for fear of being branded hysterical, bigoted, or both. But it's clear what problems are coming up ahead, if current policy remains unchanged.

Canada has been importing between 200,000 and 300,000 immigrants a year in hopes of stimulating economic growth. At the same time, our own native birth rate is well below replacement, while new immigrant birthrates remain above replacement.

Add in another factor no one dare raise: the effect of widespread legalized abortion on demand on demographics. 100,000 abortions a year, on average, since 1969. A whole generation of native-born Canadians who would now be productive citizens has been sacrificed on the altar of feminism.

Canada would not have to loot the Third World of its best and brightest minds, as well as create a permanent immigrant underclass, if it wasn't killing off its own.

We would not be facing a massive collapse of pension plans and public health care as fewer workers support more demands from more elderly Canadians.

Will immigrant Canadians want to pay for a bunch of old white folks whom they distrust, if not despise, for supposedly denying them opportunities?

Will policy makers decide that too many elderly Canadians are draining too many tax dollars, and push for euthanasia as a solution for social control with the same vigour that they have promoted abortion and contraception?

Will Canada's cities face the same fate as Paris and Sydney?

We can't just ignore the elephant in the living room, but don't expect our politicians to say it's there until it's too late to do anything about it.

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