The Missing Middle Podcast

Ontario has started cutting development charges. But is this the breakthrough Ontario’s housing market needs, or just the first step?
In this episode of The Missing Middle Podcast, Mike Moffatt sits down with Kim Fairley, President of Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA), to unpack what Ontario’s new development charge reforms mean for homebuyers, builders, and municipalities – and what still needs to happen next.
They discuss:
 • Why development charges can add up to $200,000 to the cost of a new home in Ontario
 • How some Ontario cities have raised DCs by 1,000%–5,000% since 2000
 • Why Sault Ste. Marie has no development charges—and what other cities can learn from it
 • Whether recent provincial and federal reforms will actually improve affordability
 • What Ontario’s housing market could look like over the next 6–18 months

Chapters:

00:00 Intro: Ontario’s new development charge deal: what changes?
03:55 Is housing finally getting more affordable? 
05:14 Northern Ontario’s housing market: a different reality
07:09 Sault Ste. Marie has no development charges
08:07 Do buyers know how much development charges cost?
10:25 Why transparency on development charges matters
12:08 Lower housing costs without raising taxes? 
13:35 Do Ontarians support cutting development charges? 
16:07 Can politicians actually work together on housing? 
17:08 What happens next for Ontario housing? 
18:18 Progress made, but the hard part starts now 

Research/links:
How to Lower Development Charges Without Raising Property Taxes 
https://www.missingmiddleinitiative.ca/p/how-to-lower-development-charges

A Pathway to Development Charge Reform 
https://www.orea.com/advocacy/Development-Charge-Reform

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/

Why are so many young Canadians leaving and why are some people suggesting they should be punished for it?
In this episode of The Missing Middle, Mike Moffatt and Sabrina Maddeaux break down the growing “brain drain” from Canada to the United States and the shocking proposal that young people who leave should pay a $500,000 exit fee.
They dig into what’s really driving this trend: unaffordable housing, stagnant wages, limited career opportunities, and policy decisions that increasingly favour older, wealthier generations.
This isn’t about loyalty. It’s about survival and a country that may no longer offer young people a path to the life their parents had.
📊 Topics covered:
The truth about Canada’s brain drain
Why young workers are choosing the U.S.
The economics behind the productivity gap
Immigration policy and labour market impacts
Housing, wages, and generational inequality
What Canada would need to do to win young people back

Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
01:00 Why Young Canadians Are Leaving
02:25 Cost Of Living And The U.S. Pull Factor
03:16 The Real Cost Of Brain Drain
04:05 Canada’s Productivity Problem
05:12 Punishing Young People Instead Of Fixing Problems
05:58 How Politics Shifted Against Younger Generations
07:14 Is Brain Drain Being Overblown?
08:02 Why The Viral Brain Drain Chart Misleads
08:50 Canada’s Record Emigration Problem
09:29 Losing The Best And Brightest
10:30 Immigration, Talent, And Retention Failures
11:14 Is Canada Becoming America’s Farm Team?
12:38 How Temporary Workers Changed The Labour Market
13:55 What Policies Could Win Young Canadians Back?
14:12 Housing As The Core Issue
15:17 Taxes, Transfers, And Generational Inequality
15:46 Canada’s Value Proposition Problem
16:16 Closing Thoughts And Listener Questions

Research:
Sabrina's National Post column: Fix the brain drain by fixing Canada, not with a $500K exit tax | National Post 
Statistics Canada — Recent trends in migration flows from Canada to the United States: https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2025007/article/00006-eng.htm
The Hub — “Can anyone solve Canada’s brain drain problem?”: https://thehub.ca/2026/04/03/can-anyone-solve-canadas-brain-drain-problem/
HRD: Canada's talent exodus: What senior HR leaders can't afford to ignore | Human Resources Director 

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/

Why does it feel like young Canadians can’t get ahead anymore?
In this episode, Cara Stern and Mike Moffatt break down the growing generational divide in Canada, and why Millennials and Gen Z are being squeezed from both sides. From skyrocketing housing costs to rising taxes and massive government spending on programs like Old Age Security (OAS), the financial pressure on younger Canadians has never been higher.
We explore how Canada’s aging population is reshaping the economy, why healthcare and retirement spending now dominate government budgets, and how policy decisions around housing have made affordability worse. With fewer workers supporting more retirees, and homeownership increasingly out of reach, this episode uncovers the systemic forces driving a massive wealth transfer from young to old.
Is this sustainable? Why hasn’t policy changed? And what can younger generations actually do about it?
Chapters:
00:00 Introduction: The Hidden Wealth Transfer From Young to Old
00:18 Canada’s Aging Population and the Fiscal Squeeze
01:32 Why Fewer Workers Are Supporting More Retirees
01:54 How OAS Became Canada’s Biggest Federal Expense
03:04 The Truth About Who Paid for Old Age Security
04:14 Young Canadians Are Being Squeezed From Both Sides
04:59 How Housing Policy Made Homes More Expensive
06:29 Did Boomers Intentionally Build This System?
08:23 The Unintended Consequences of Housing Restrictions
09:13 Why Millennials and Gen Z Feel Locked Out
10:20 How Government Spending Shifted Toward Seniors
11:42 Why Younger Generations Struggle to Organize Politically
12:49 Would Lower Home Prices Crash Canada’s Economy?
13:34 Why Cheaper Housing Would Make Canada Wealthier
13:52 Why Young Canadians Need Political Power
15:00 Final Thoughts and Outro

Research/links:

An Oligarchy of Old People
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/2026/05/gerontocracy-wealth-power/686585/

Are Boomers Bankrupting the Future?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbM3_BPDJ5Y

2026 Ontario Budget
https://budget.ontario.ca/2026/pdf/2026-ontario-budget-en.pdf
Page 196

Annual Financial Report of the Government of Canada 2024-25
https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/fin/publications/afr-rfa/2025/afr-rfa-2024-25-eng.pdf
Pg 15

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/

Canada’s international student program is under fire and the numbers are hard to ignore.
In this episode, Sabrina Maddeaux and Mike Moffatt break down a shocking Auditor General report that uncovered major enforcement failures inside Canada’s immigration system. With over 153,000 potentially non-compliant students flagged and little follow-up from authorities, this isn’t just a bureaucratic slip-up. It raises serious questions about oversight, accountability, and trust.
Is this really about growing too fast, or did the government fail to enforce its own rules?
We dive into:
The difference between a capacity problem vs. an enforcement problem
Why thousands of fraud cases were never investigated
How approval rates hit 98% in high-risk streams
The impact on housing affordability and job markets
What this means for public trust in Canada’s institutions
And whether cutting immigration targets actually solves anything
This conversation unpacks how policy decisions ripple across the economy, and why fixing the system may require more than just lowering the numbers.

Chapters:

00:00 – Intro: Auditor General Report: The Big Findings
00:45 – Enforcement Failure
01:47 – “Deliberate and Scandalous” Fraud Handling
03:42 – What the Program Was Supposed to Do
04:34 – What It Became: Wage Suppression & Exploitation
05:24 – Housing Crisis Impact
07:45 – Only 40% Confirmed They Leave Canada
09:32 – The Case for Retroactive Enforcement
11:02 – Why Cutting Immigration Isn’t Enough

RESEARCH LINKS:
Auditor General Report on International Student Program (March 2025): https://www.canada.ca/en/auditor-general/our-work/audit-reports/auditor-general-report-2026-international-student-program-reforms.html

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/

Cities across Canada are backing away from upzoning. After agreeing to allow fourplexes and other missing middle housing, municipalities like Calgary, Toronto, Markham, and Windsor are scaling back — or reversing — reforms altogether. What’s behind the pushback, and are YIMBYs losing the as-of-right fight?

In this segment, we break down:

Why cities are rejecting upzoning after agreeing to it

What Calgary’s reversal means for housing reform

Why Edmonton is succeeding where others aren’t

The politics behind fourplex opposition

Whether provinces — not cities — should lead upzoning

What advocates should do next

Is this just a temporary backlash, or the beginning of a broader retreat from upzoning?

(Quick note from Cara: This was recorded before the first round ended. If the Oilers are already out at this release, I would like the record to show that I believed in them right up until the end, and that next year is our year!)

Chapters:
00:15 | The Housing Accelerator Fund and Refusal to Implement Changes
01:03 | GTA Holdouts: Oakville, Markham, and Toronto
02:04 | Calgary's Policy Reversal After Election
03:06 | Edmonton: Getting Infill Housing Right (8 Units As-of-Right)
04:11 | Debunking the Myths 
06:08 | The Policy Lesson: Working to Make Changes Stick
07:18 | The Path Forward: Debating Future Approaches 
15:29 | Winning Hearts and Minds: Focusing on Benefits 

Research/links:

Majority of Windsor council stands firm in fourplex decision, limits them to certain areas of the city
https://www.ctvnews.ca/windsor/article/majority-of-windsor-council-stands-firm-in-fourplex-decision-limits-them-to-certain-areas-of-the-city/

Fourplexes: A tale of two neighbouring communities
https://canada.constructconnect.com/dcn/news/projects/2024/04/fourplexes-a-tale-of-two-neighbouring-communities

2025: The year Edmonton built the missing middle
 https://www.jacobdawang.com/blog/2026/zbr-two-year-review/

Hosted by Mike Moffatt & Cara Stern & Sabrina Maddeaux
Produced by Meredith Martin
Funded by the Neptis Foundation https://neptis.org/