The Missing Middle Podcast

Housing affordability is increasingly shaping how young people think about politics, political parties, and the future of democracy.
On this episode of DemograFix, Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern explore what research tells us about the relationship between the housing crisis and young people's political views across North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Does declining housing affordability deepen the divide between younger and older voters? Is it pushing young people away from centrist parties, or toward the left or right? And what happens when an entire generation starts to lose faith in its ability to ever own a home?
Mike puts six statements about housing and politics to Cara, drawing on academic research and polling data to explore how housing affordability is reshaping political priorities, polarization, voter engagement, and the desire for homeownership.

Chapters:
00:00 Housing Affordability Is a Global Crisis
01:26 Could the Housing Crisis Radicalize Young Voters?
03:45 Is Housing Widening the Generational Political Divide?
06:24 Is the Housing Crisis Polarizing Young Voters?
10:12 Is Housing Pushing Young People Left or Right?
13:11 How Housing Is Creating a New Class Divide
17:12 Is the Housing Crisis Driving Political Disengagement?
19:38 Do Young People Still Want to Own a Home?

Research/links:
The Dangerous Disillusionment of Young Canadians
https://macleans.ca/politics/the-dangerous-disillusionment-of-young-canadians/
How to lose friends and alienate people: The social and political consequences of Europe’s housing crisis: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/17816858241274918 
Three inconvenient truths:How to stop housing radicalising the young and killing the political centre
https://www.martenscentre.eu/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/5.pdf 
Economy and Space piece
https://pureadmin.qub.ac.uk/ws/files/241804034/0308518x211022363.pdf
What drives support for large-scale housing reform?
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19491247.2026.2630075
Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Edited by Sean Foreman and Canadian Civil

Join us for an exclusive post-speech interview with Bank of Canada Senior Deputy Governor Carolyn Rogers following her address to the Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce and CFA Society Victoria.

In this conversation, Rogers sits down to unpack her frank speech on Canada's housing affordability dilemma. We discuss why interest rates are too blunt of a tool to fix housing, how Canada's heavy reliance on residential real estate impacts our national productivity, and what regulatory stress tests actually achieved versus what they couldn't fix. Plus, we dive into the trade-offs of measuring shelter costs in the CPI and what it will genuinely take to untangle the Canadian economy from the housing trap.

Research:
Canada’s housing market / Le marché canadien du logement
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8C9jD5xQJdM

Canada’s mortgage market—A question of balance Remarksby Carolyn Rogers at the Economic Club of Canada, November 6, 2024
https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2024/11/canadas-mortgage-market-a-question-of-balance/

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Edited by Sean Foreman and Canadian Civil

In this episode of Classonomics, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt examine how Canada’s outdated Employment Insurance model leaves young professionals and gig workers behind during record spikes in youth unemployment. They explore why current rules penalize urban renters, how maximum benefits fall short of basic living costs, and what practical policy reforms could fix the system for the modern workforce.

Chapters:
00:00 Canada’s EI System Wasn’t Built for Today’s Workers
01:02 How Employment Insurance Became Outdated
02:16 How EI Eligibility Actually Works
03:10 Why Young Workers Are Falling Through the EI Gaps
06:23 EI Doesn’t Cover Most Gig Workers
07:38 The EI Rules That Punish Short-Term Jobs
09:24 What Happens When EI Runs Out?
11:11 Why Ottawa’s EI Fixes Aren’t Helping Young Workers
15:03 EI Benefits Don’t Go Very Far in Toronto
17:42 How We Could Actually Fix Employment Insurance

Research:
Statistics Canada - Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2024 (youth eligibility 50.3%, part-time 41.6%):
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/251029/dq251029a-eng.htm
Statistics Canada - Labour Force Survey, July 2026 (youth unemployment 12.6%):
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/260807/dq260807a-eng.htm
Service Canada - EI regular benefits eligibility and the qualifying period rule:
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/eligibility.html
Service Canada - EI benefit amount (55%, $729 weekly max, $68,900 MIE for 2026):
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/benefits/ei/ei-regular-benefit/benefit-amount.html
ESDC Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principles - long-tenured worker definition and 20 extra weeks:
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/reports/digest/chapter-1/extend-benefit-period.html
ESDC - EI Monitoring and Assessment Report 2024-25, Chapter 2 (34.4% entitlement exhaustion rate):
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/reports/monitoring2025/chapter2.html
Canada Gazette SOR/2026-64 - 25.4% of unemployed were long-term unemployed in January 2026:
https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2026/2026-04-08/html/sor-dors64-eng.html
Rentals.ca March 2026 Rent Report - Toronto one-bedroom asking rent $2,206:
https://rentals.ca/blog/rentals-ca-march-2026-rent-report
Statistics Canada - Experiences of self-employed workers in Canada, 2023:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/240603/dq240603b-eng.htm
Canada Employment Insurance Commission - 2026 premium rate and $17.2B Operating Account deficit:
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/programs/ei/ei-list/reports/premium/rates2026.html
ESDC - EI modernization consultations, Phase 2 What We Heard report (2022):
https://www.canada.ca/en/employment-social-development/news/2022/09/government-of-canada-releases-report-on-phase-2-of-the-employment-insurance-modernization-consultations.html
IRPP - Canada's EI Is Once Again Failing Its Stress Test (benefit exhaustion as the coverage driver):
https://irpp.org/research-studies/ei-failing-stress/
C.D. Howe Institute - Should gig workers be covered by the EI regime? (the case against):
https://cdhowe.org/publication/providing-gig-workers-ei-no-easy-answer/

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Edited by Sean Foreman and Canadian Civil

As life milestones like finishing school, buying a house, and getting married get pushed further into our 30s, biology remains the one deadline that refuses to bend. In this episode of DemograFix, hosts Mike Moffatt and Cara Stern take a deep dive into the business, economics, and realities of egg freezing, sparked by U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) publicly sharing her own fertility journey.
Mike and Cara discuss how skyrocketing housing prices, student debt, and extended education force modern life choices to clash directly with biological clocks. They break down what real-world data shows about live birth success rates, explain why calling the procedure an insurance policy is deeply misleading, and unpack the steep financial burden and physical toll involved. 
While egg freezing gives many people options and extra time, this episode asks the bigger question of whether medical technology can truly fix the broader structural economic problems delaying family life today. 

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro: Delayed Milestones and Biological Realities
00:42 - AOC’s Journey & Public Misconceptions Around Egg Freezing
01:52 - Why Economic Factors Are Pushing Fertility Later
03:58 - Corporate Benefits: Workplace Culture vs. True Solutions
05:12 - The Emotional and Physical Reality of the Process
07:12 - High-Pressure Marketing and "Insurance Policy" Claims
09:50 - What the Data Actually Says About Success Rates
12:11 - Ideal Ages vs. Realities of When People Freeze Eggs
13:28 - Financial Costs and Lack of Public Coverage
15:12 - Common Myths About Aging Eggs and Fertility
16:15 - The Need for Clinic Transparency and Industry Regulation
17:20 - Conclusion: Fix Structural Causes, Not Just Biological Clocks 

Research/links:

CARTR Plus Annual Report 2025
https://cfas.ca/_Library/CARTR/2025_CARTR_annual_report_CFAS_2024_Data_.pdf

Fertility Inc - Investigative Journalism Bureau
https://ijb.utoronto.ca/projects/fertility-inc/

Elective Egg Freezing for Age-Related Fertility Decline
https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/6/E142

Mount Sinai Fertility - What to know about egg freezing
https://mountsinaifertility.com/2025/03/28/what-to-know-about-egg-freezing/

With Big Choices Ahead, Ocasio-Cortez Navigates New Territory
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/08/12/us/politics/with-big-choices-ahead-ocasio-cortez-navigates-new-territory.html

Ocasio-Cortez’s decision riles some on right, while also winning admiration
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/6030686-aoc-egg-freezing-controversy/

AOC's egg-freezing posts on Instagram 
https://www.instagram.com/aoc

And her TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@aoc
Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Edited by Sean Foreman and Canadian Civil

In this episode of Classonomics, host Mike Moffatt sits down with financial advice guru David Chilton, author of the Canadian classic The Wealthy Barber and former co-host of Dragon's Den. Decades after his original bestseller offered foundational advice to young Canadians, Chilton reflects on how drastically the economic landscape has shifted, and why writing his updated edition proved far more challenging.

The conversation dives deep into the realities facing young adults today, from ubiquitous credit and skyrocketing housing costs to the inflation rates hit hardest by major life stages. Chilton and Moffatt dissect the underlying factors behind housing unaffordability, such as stubborn land costs and municipal development fees, while addressing the growing "brain drain" of talent moving away from expensive urban centers. They also evaluate whether renting and investing the difference in broad-market, low-cost ETFs can outperform traditional homeownership, the dangers of online sports gambling among young men, and how older generations truly feel about housing value trade-offs.

Finally, Chilton shares actionable, practical guidance tailored for three groups: policy recommendations for economic productivity, non-financial advice on staying optimistic for recent graduates, and smart pre-retirement steps for mid-career professionals.

Chapters:

Pop up video around 8:55 - mcmansions ep https://youtu.be/doxJHEqiuV0?si=kIU6rVuB_fsCGNaZ

Research links:

The Wealthy Barber 2025 Indigo Exclusive: The Fully Updated All-Time Canadian Classic
https://www.indigo.ca/products/the-wealthy-barber-2025-indigo-exclusive

The Wealthy Barber
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wealthy_Barber
https://thewealthybarber.com/

Steve Saretsky: Canadian Real Estate—CRAZY Times Have Led to CRAZY Times | TWB Podcast #26
https://youtu.be/C_KaFwUPvkM

Why Developers Only Seem to Build McMansions
https://youtu.be/doxJHEqiuV0?si=nqMJgAb9jNlT4e4Y

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Edited by Sean Foreman and Canadian Civil