Generation Screwed raises awareness of Canada’s crushing $600 billion national debt
Generation Screwed is a non-partisan organization dedicated to raising awareness about our national debt, and let’s face it: it’s about time. According to Generation Screwed, Ontario accounts for over $300 billion worth of the over $600 billion national debt. Yes, billion. And if you’re wondering why you should care about the national debt, here’s one reason: in Ontario, your share of this debt is over $22,000, and growing.
“Generation Screwed is just the network of young activists on Canadian campuses that are fighting back for their financial future. What we do is we fight against large deficits and large government debt because their deficits and this debt is nothing more than tomorrow’s taxes being used for today’s spendings,” said Renaud Brossard, executive director of Generation Screwed, in an interview with The Ontarion.
This “tomorrow’s taxes for today’s spending” attitude is not unlike a child putting off doing their chores, hoping that ignoring them will make them go away — which is not an attractive or desirable trait for a government to have. What’s more, no matter who you are, you are born into this debt, unable to absolve yourself of it until the people we elect to represent us get their act together, balance the budget, and start chipping away at the crushing sum. To battle this debt crisis, Generation Screwed endeavours to educate voters, especially on college and university campuses, about the national debt and what it means for our financial futures. “For us, it’s really about getting more people to know about what the problem is, so ultimately when they vote, they vote taking financial responsibility into account, and they try to analyze which parties are promoting this, and if there’s more and more people who believe in it, there’s going to be more and more politicians that are trying to promote it,” said Brossard.
Though there are currently no representatives from Generation Screwed for the University of Guelph, Brossard is hopeful there will be one soon.
Ultimately, this debt will be pushed onto our shoulders, and we need to stop pretending this isn’t a problem, or that someone else will take care of it, because our lawmakers have proven time and time again that they will not.
Photo courtesy of Generation Screwed via CC0