Missing Middle Initiative

Missing Middle Initiative

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Is Canada Still a Meritocracy? It Depends Who You Ask
Hard work is supposed to lead to success, but for many Canadians, that promise feels increasingly uncertain.
 • Missing Middle Initiative, Cara Stern, Meredith Martin, and Mike Moffatt
How to Lower Development Charges Without Raising Property Taxes
A practical roadmap for reform
 • Mike Moffatt
The Statistical Illusion Inside CMHC’s Housing Data
A closer look at the data shows Canada isn’t building the homes families need and future construction may already be falling.
 • Missing Middle Initiative, Sabrina Maddeaux, Mike Moffatt, and Meredith Martin
Family-Sized Homes in Canada: Rare, Expensive, and Out Of Reach
Exploring how building codes, zoning, and outdated regulations make family-sized homes scarce and what that means for families in Canadian cities.
 • Missing Middle Initiative, Cara Stern, Mike Moffatt, and Meredith Martin
Canada vs Alabama: The Comparison Canadians Don’t Want to Hear
GDP comparisons sparked outrage. But the real story is Canada’s declining living standards and a growing generational divide.
 • Missing Middle Initiative
Cities Keep Planning for Seniors to Downsize. The Data Shows They're Not Moving.
How flawed assumptions about seniors helped shape today’s housing shortage.
 • Cara Stern, Mike Moffatt, and Meredith Martin
Canada’s K-Shaped Economy: Why Growth Isn’t Helping Most Canadians
Exploring how rising GDP and record profits can coexist with food bank lines, housing crises, and a shrinking middle class.
 • Missing Middle Initiative

February 2026

Cross-Border Tension: How National Identity Shapes What Canadians Buy
For some, avoiding U.S. products is patriotism. For others, it’s a luxury belief only the comfortable can afford.
 • Cara Stern, Mike Moffatt, and Meredith Martin
The Middle Class Squeeze: Why Rising Incomes Don’t Feel Like Progress
Exploring the gap between economic statistics and lived reality for today’s middle class.
 • Missing Middle Initiative
How Canada’s Middle-Class Housing Crisis Is Undermining Its Future
Why pricing out young families is weakening productivity, entrepreneurship, and social cohesion.
 • Mike Moffatt
The Disappearing "Third Place": Why It’s So Hard to Make Friends as an Adult
How cities make it harder to find your people
 • Cara Stern, Mike Moffatt, and Meredith Martin
New Starter Homes Are Now Twice as Expensive, Relative to Income, as in 2004
Incomes rose 76%. New starter-home prices rose 265%.
 • Missing Middle Initiative
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