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Be first when we launch —

For Government

Should we have done this 100 years ago?

The cost of helping every Canadian child start with a long-term account is small in the context of federal spending. The cost of waiting compounds across generations.

A New Social Contract — Built Privately

A lifetime of compounding starts at birth.

A portable, professionally managed and diversified long-term account, established at birth, preserved for retirement and designed to grow over time — giving every child a long-term stake in Canada's future.

Each account begins with a $1,000 contribution from an employer or philanthropic partner, and can receive additional contributions from family, friends, employers and philanthropic partners.

Building Canada Strong, for all.
From reliance to resilience

Alignment with Federal Priorities

Built to advance Canada's stated priorities.

How Compound Canada maps to the federal government's own economic objectives — in its own language.

Policy ObjectiveGovernment DirectionHow Compound Canada Advances It
Productivity and investment-led growth
  • Raise productive capacity
  • Mobilize long-term private investment
  • Builds a long-duration pool of household-owned capital
  • Channels a governed portion of that capital into Canadian markets and, over time, eligible productive assets
Sustainable fiscal capacity
  • Shift spending toward investments that grow the economy
  • Preserve fiscal sustainability for future generations
  • Turns an initial contribution into long-term capital that can compound for decades
  • Builds private retirement assets that can reduce future reliance on OAS and GIS
Long-term economic resilience
  • Build a stronger, more independent economy
  • Withstand global uncertainty and shocks
  • Gives households a long-term financial foundation
  • Keeps capital invested through economic cycles
Shared Canadian ownership
  • Give Canadians a direct stake in Canada's success
  • Let Canadians share in the financial returns
  • Gives every child a long-term ownership stake
  • Connects that stake to a diversified portfolio with governed Canadian participation
Financial innovation and competition
  • Broaden participation in investment
  • Support financial innovation and competition
  • Connects families, employers and philanthropy to one portable account
  • Creates common standards and portability that can support future competition among regulated financial institutions
Opportunity for the next generation
  • Expand opportunity for the next generation
  • Build lifelong financial capability
  • Gives every child a financial starting point
  • Makes saving, investing and compounding tangible from the start
Fair and competitive tax system
  • Encourage long-term investment through the tax system
  • Improve certainty, simplicity and fairness
  • Creates a retirement-purpose vehicle for long-term investment
  • Prioritizes use of an existing registered-account framework, where feasible, with simple and consistent treatment of contributions, growth and withdrawals
Retirement income security
  • Strengthen retirement security
  • Support a sustainable retirement income system
  • Broadens future sources of retirement income
  • Complements CPP/QPP, OAS, GIS, workplace pensions and personal savings

The Pathway From Here

A clear, sequenced path.

Federal Action

Launch a feasibility assessment

Launch a formal feasibility assessment of Compound Canada's account structure, tax treatment, fiscal effects and delivery — including independent validation of the fiscal model and whether the account can operate within an existing registered-account framework.

Private Launch in Development

The first demonstration, privately led

Compound Canada is building the first demonstration with employers and philanthropic partners, supported by regulated custodial and investment partners. The initial private target is $50 million to establish 50,000 accounts, designed to proceed without a federal funding commitment.

Supporting materials available on request.

The smallest line item with the longest reach.

Canada records roughly 365,000 to 370,000 births each year. A $1,000 seed for every child born in a year would represent an annual federal cost of roughly $365 million to $370 million.

That is less than one tenth of one percent of annual federal spending. Few policy ideas at this price point have the potential to touch every child, work over an entire lifetime and build long-term household capital.

<0.1%
of annual federal spending to seed every Canadian child born in a year
~365K–370K
Canadian births per year (approx.)
$1,000
Seed per child
~$365M–$370M
Estimated annual seed cost
<0.1%
Share of federal spending

The Intergenerational Crisis

Canada's future feels different depending on your generation.

The data points to a widening generational divide. Older Canadians have benefited from decades of investment in social protection, healthcare and retirement security. Younger Canadians are entering adulthood with higher housing costs, more debt and fewer obvious pathways to ownership.

This is not an argument against senior programs. It is an argument for a comparable commitment at the beginning of life, not only at the end of it.

Same country. Different reality.

Canadians over 60
#8
Canada ranks among the happiest countries in the world for older adults, reflecting decades of investment in social protection, healthcare and retirement security.
World Happiness Report · age-based rankings
Canadians under 30
#58
Younger Canadians face a different reality. Higher housing costs, education debt and weaker access to ownership mean too many are starting adult life without a meaningful stake in the economy.
World Happiness Report · age-based rankings

The Spending Imbalance

Where the money goes — and where it doesn't.

Canada's fiscal architecture was built for a different demographic era. The data points to a clear imbalance between what we spend at the end of life and what we invest at the beginning.

Federal spend ratio
~3:1
The federal government spends significantly more on seniors than on children. The question is not whether senior programs matter — they do. It is whether Canada also needs a stronger asset-building commitment at the beginning of life.
Child poverty rate
9.9%
Nearly one in ten Canadian children lives below the poverty line, compared with a lower rate for Canadians over 65.
RESP participation gap
80% vs 25%
Opt-in savings programs tend to work best for families that already have the capacity to save. A universal birth-based structure is designed to reduce that participation gap.

Seed a generation and reduce pressure on the existing system over time.

Compound Canada is privately seeded at launch. The federal case asks a separate question: if Ottawa chose to fund a universal $1,000 seed at birth, what long-term fiscal return could that create?

Using federal baseline numbers, the model suggests that a small upfront seed could reduce future pressure on senior benefits as more Canadians arrive at retirement with meaningful private capital.

The figures below are illustrative. They are not a forecast, guarantee or investment return to participants. They depend on long-run assumptions, discount rates, contribution behaviour, market performance and policy design.

45×
Modeled benefit-cost ratio over 100 years
$36.6B
100-year modeled federal seed cost
0.075%
Annual seed cost as a share of federal spending
$34T
Cumulative federal elderly-benefit spending under the status quo, based on baseline projections
$1.65T
Modeled reduction in OAS and GIS pressure over 100 years
7.0%
Modeled federal fiscal IRR over 100 years — a public finance metric, not a participant investment return

Capital Ring-Fenced in Canada

A sovereign-scale pool, anchored in Canadian households.

Each birth cohort can become a long-term ownership cohort. Accounts would be held through regulated Canadian partners, with investment exposure governed through approved program infrastructure.

The long-term effect is not only retirement security. It is a new pool of patient, Canadian-aligned household capital that can support Canadian markets, generate tax revenue over time and recycle future drawdown spending back through the domestic economy.

These are long-horizon projections, not guarantees.

~$4.5T
Modeled pool as the first launch cohort matures
~$11T
Modeled pool as the same cohort reaches OAS age
~$69B
Modeled annual OAS and GIS savings at steady state

Figures are illustrative, drawn from a federal cost-benefit framework using baseline public finance assumptions. Long-run projections are not a forecast or guarantee.

Sources for senior-benefit inputs: Office of the Chief Actuary, 18th Actuarial Report on the Old Age Security Program, including GIS/Allowance beneficiary projections and recipient rates; Government of Canada CPP/OAS quarterly statistics, including current GIS maximums and OAS recovery-tax thresholds.


Rebalance our national priorities.
Start at birth.

Compound Canada represents infrastructure that could make this possible. Early asset-building can create social, fiscal and economic returns over a lifetime. The opportunity is to give every child a stake early, while building long-term household capital for Canada.

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