Yesterday, Bank of Canada governor Tiff Mackem warned that early evidence shows AI is reducing the number of entry-level jobs available.

Are we heading toward a future of mass unemployment, or is AI just the latest "calculator" to change how we work? Cara Stern and Mike Moffatt dive deep into the data behind AI's impact on demographics and the workforce.

While Mike leans into historical optimism, Cara brings the receipts: a recent Stanford study showing a 13% drop in employment for young workers in AI-exposed fields since the release of ChatGPT. We explore which jobs are "AI-proof," why Gen X seems to be winning (again), and what policy changes could help young people get a foot in the door.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

00:29 Why Mike is unconcerned about AI taking his job

01:30 Why Cara is worried about AI

02:21 Young works AI exposed jobs see 13% drop

03:52 Examining AI exposed occupations

04:30 How AI impacts different cohorts of workers

06:12 Understanding the impact of AI on wages

06:54 Being well rounded is the best protection

08:16 Trades, healthcare and education will continue to be in demand

09:20 Mike shares a story from the olden times

10:00 Mike’s take on going into the trades

11:20 Mike on wages

12:18 Focus on developing skills

13:17 The role of policymakers and solutions

Research/links:

Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence

Youth in Canada will need help gaining experience in the AI era

No to being young again; The struggles of Canadian youth employment - CIBC Capital Markets

Canada must pioneer AI adoption that creates job opportunities: Ryan Khurana in Canadian Affairs | Macdonald-Laurier Institute

Canaries in the Coal Mine? Six Facts about the Recent Employment Effects of Artificial Intelligence

Youth in Canada will need help gaining experience in the AI era

No to being young again; The struggles of Canadian youth employment - CIBC Capital Markets

Canada must pioneer AI adoption that creates job opportunities: Ryan Khurana in Canadian Affairs | Macdonald-Laurier Institute

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’s housing ladder is broken. In this episode of Missing Middle, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt explain why the starter home no longer works and how an entire generation has been locked out of moving up.

They compare buying a detached home in 2004 for $168,000 with today’s reality, where condos fail as a first step and buyers are trapped with no clear path forward. The conversation explores how this breakdown affects family formation, careers, ambition, and Canada’s economic future.=

If homeownership feels impossible, this episode explains why and why it matters.

Do you still believe the starter home works, or has the housing ladder completely collapsed where you live?

Chapters:

00:00 — What “Buying Your First Home” Used to Look Like

00:40 — Mike’s First House: A Brand-New Detached Home… as a “Starter”

01:47 — Why That Dream Is Gone for Today’s Buyers

02:29 — What “Starter Home” Means Now vs. Then

05:23 — “Aging Out” of the Starter Home

07:03 — Trapped in a Condo

09:58 — The “Second-Time Buyer Problem” Explained

11:09 — Housing, Birth Rates, and Canada’s Demographic Crisis

13:37 — Careers Limited by Real Estate, Not Talent

18:45 — Why Politicians Are Getting This Wrong

Research links:

Teranet Market Insights Q1 2025

National Bank Housing Affordability Monitor

CMHC Housing Market Outlook 2025

CMHC Housing Supply Report 2025

Royal LePage House Price Survey and Market Forecast

Statistics Canada - Homeownership and Mortgage Debt of Tax Filers

CIBC Economics - Housing Affordability Reports

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’s housing crisis. Youth unemployment. Immigration debates. A broken healthcare system.

What if we told you a book published in 1996 predicted almost all of it?

In this episode of The Missing Middle, Cara Stern and Mike Moffatt revisit the Canadian classic Boom, Bust & Echo to explore how demographics, especially the aging of the baby boomers, reshaped Canada’s economy, housing market, job prospects, and public policy.

We break down:

• Why youth unemployment was a policy choice

• How demographics quietly drive housing prices

• What governments got right — and very wrong

• Why immigration policy, real estate, and healthcare are deeply connected

• And how Canada ended up with a generational economic imbalance

This isn’t just history. It explains why life is harder for young Canadians today and what choices led us here.

If you care about housing affordability, jobs, immigration, public policy, and Canada’s economic future, this episode is for you.

Chapters:

00:00 Introduction

00:49 Why Boom, Bust, and Echo (BBE) still matters

03:00 What the book got right and wrong

04:25 Prediction about the rise of home health care

06: 06 Policy dilemma: high demand for PSWs & balancing budgets

08:12 Immigration policy advice from Boom, Bust and Echo

09:03 Governments didn’t take the advice

10:55 BBE real estate prediction

11:45 Housing market predictions: what went wrong

15:10 Boomers, Millennials & real estate

16:40 BBE prediction on future changes to taxation policy

17:13 The politics of moving taxation from income to capital

19:50 Real estate prediction for aging boomers

20:34 Naturally occurring retirement communities

23:40 Following where people actually live

24:47 Demographics are facts that help us understand the future

Research/links:

Boom, Bust & Echo: How to Profit from the Coming Demographic Shift

https://www.amazon.ca/Boom-bust-echo-profit-demographic/dp/0921912978

David Foot on Aging Society & Youth

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gy7y2w9i_aA

What David Foot didn't tell us

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/what-david-foot-didnt-tell-us/article784233/

Finding Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities - Agenda segment

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ynlwpsye2c0

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.