Jagmeet Singh Says 'Jacked Up Rents & Crushing Student Debt' Aren't 'Fair' To Young Canadians

Jagmeet Singh has said that rising rent, low-paying jobs and student debt aren't "fair" to hardworking young people in Canada.

The NDP leader posted on Twitter and Instagram in response to the Real Affordability Index, a report by Youthful Cities and RBC Future Launch that revealed Canadian cities aren't affordable for people between 15 and 29 years old.

"Jobs that don't treat you with respect. Wages that don't pay the bills. Jacked up rents. And crushing student debt. None of this is fair to young people working hard to build a future," Singh said.

He claimed that "young people are barely scraping by," and the people in the top 1% rigged the system so they could make "record profits."

"For years, the Liberals and Conservatives have allowed the ultra-rich to rig the system and take wealth from everyday Canadians," Singh said.

"It's wrong and unjust."

According to the Real Affordability Index, young people lose an average of $750 a month by living in cities across Canada.

"To break even young people would need to isolate themselves — no entertainment, no transportation and no dining out," the report said.

It also revealed that young people working minimum wage jobs can't reach a surplus of affordability and that minimum wage across the country isn't a liveable wage.

The minimum wage in Canada varies, and there's a difference of almost $5 per hour between some provinces and territories.

To get closer to affordability in the next three years with a 6.7% inflation rate, the Real Affordability Index called for the minimum wage to be raised everywhere by $5 and the cost of education to be reduced by 15%, among other things.

When it comes to education, the federal government has waived interest on Canada Student Loans until March 2023.

Singh petitioned to cancel up to $20,000 of federal student loan debt per student for old and new graduates back in 2021, but nothing ever came from it.

In 2019, a Parliamentary Budget Officer report found that the cost of forgiving student loans and scrapping tuition in Canada would be $16.4 billion in the first year, $12.5 billion in the second year and under $10 billion each year after that!