Why giving every newborn $60,000 could be key to securing Canada’s future: Hunter Prize 2025

The Hub’s third annual Hunter Prize for Public Policy, generously supported by the Hunter Family Foundation, focused on solving Canada’s stagnant living standards and slow productivity growth. A diverse group of ten finalists have been chosen from nearly 250 entries, with the finalists and winners chosen by an esteemed panel of judges, including Theo Argitis, Hon. Lisa Raitt, Frances Donald, Jack Mintz, and Alicia Planincic. The Hub is pleased to run essays from each finalist this week that lay out their plans to help solve this persistent policy problem. The Hunter Prize is made possible thanks to the support of the Centre for Civic Engagement. Canada risks becoming the first generation to hand its children less prosperity than it inherited. Many Canadians are losing hope as they watch their future narrow under the weight of rising housing costs, strained services, and growing public debt. Seniors worry about pensions and health care, families worry about affording daily life, and parents lie awake at night fearing their children will not be able to build a stable or secure future of their own. It is hard for Canadians to stay motivated in such an environment. Canadian families are under visible strain. In the past year alone, the number of households 90-plus days behind on their mortgages jumped from 13,000 to nearly 23,000 homes. Car loan delinquencies increased from 14,000 to more than 75,000, and missed credit card payments rose by 300,000 people, reaching 1.4 million in early 2025. At the same time, workplace absenteeism climbed from 8.5 percent to 10.2 percent, costing the economy an additional 85 million lost workdays. This is a staggering statistic. This is not just about finances; it is about morale, confidence, and productivity. Real GDP per capita has now fallen in five of the last six quarters, including a 1.6 percent annualized contraction in Q2 2025, showing how national prosperity is eroding alongside household finances. The urgency is clear. Canada needs a bold, practical solution that restores confidence and strengthens long-term productivity. Named after the maple seed that carries new life on the wind, the Samara Fund achieves this by investing directly in Canadians from birth. It proposes that the federal government place $60,000 per Canadian newborn into a Canadian index fund, turning long-term public costs into growing assets. These funds would compound over time, strengthening GDP per capita by channelling capital into Canadian businesses and reducing pressure on future taxes and debt. Best of all, this policy can be implemented immediately through a practical, phased approach that requires no new borrowing or higher taxes. Imagine a Canada where the foundation and infrastructure for every child’s future is already funded and secured. That is a vision worth supporting. This urgency for such a fund is underscored by a long period of stagnation in GDP per capita: from 1981 to 2013, GDP per capita grew by 1.1 percent annually, but from 2014 to 2024, the total gain was only 1.1 percent, the weakest stretch in modern Canadian history. According to Statistics Canada, Ottawa’s budget in 2024 was approximately $535 billion. With a population of 41.3 million, that works out to about $12,900 in federal spending per citizen each year. Over an average lifespan of 82 years, that totals more than $1 million per Canadian. At a modest 4 percent annual increase, lifetime costs exceed $3.5 million per person. Yet we continue to finance these obligations through debt and rising taxes. The Samara Fund directly answers this challenge by pre-funding those costs through disciplined investment, converting obligations into growing assets. How it would work Roughly 350,000 Canadian children are born each year. For every child, Ottawa would make a one-time investment of $60,000 in a low-fee Canadian index fund. The funds would be publicly owned, untouchable until maturity, and dedicated solely to covering that citizen’s lifetime share of health care, pensions, infrastructure, and social services. In this way, long-term obligations are converted into assets that grow quietly in the background, compounding into fiscal security for both individuals and the nation. At first glance, investing $60,000 per new Canadian may seem steep. It represents about 5 percent of Ottawa’s current annual budget, or roughly $21 billion. It is a significant sum that could be phased in responsibly, and it remains below current federal debt-servicing costs. At a conservative 7 percent return, that single investment compounds over a lifetime to about $4.88 million per citizen, comfortably exceeding the projected federal share of public costs per person, estimated at $3.54 million. Anchored in Canadian index funds, these reserves secure public finances while channelling capital into domestic businesses, sustaining Canadian jobs, supporting families, and promoting long-term growth. The results begin quickly. Within just 10 years, the Samara Fund would generate reserves of roughly $310 billion, including about $100 billion in investment gains. This would create one of the largest fiscal reserves in Canadian history, achieved without raising taxes or adding debt. More importantly, it would inject new capital into Canadian enterprises and demonstrate measurable gains in productivity and GDP per capita within a single decade. The benefits are profound. First, it restores fiscal sustainability. Rather than piling obligations onto the next generation, Canada would pre-fund them. Second, it creates intergenerational fairness. Retirees can count on pensions and health care with less pressure to cut benefits, while families gain reassurance that their children will not inherit crushing costs. Third, it frees up future budgets from debt service, making room for innovation and productivity-enhancing investments. Business leaders and entrepreneurs thrive when they can plan in an environment where social costs are secured, not deferred. Importantly, this vision requires no new bureaucracy. The necessary infrastructure already exists. Provinces register births and share that data with Ottawa to issue Social Insurance Numbers and the Canada Child Benefit. The same system could begin creating Samara Fund accounts right away, with assets managed by the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. Funding could be phased in gradually: 1 percent of the federal budget in year one, 2 percent in year two, 3 percent in year three, and 5 percent by year five, all within existing fiscal capacity. Skeptics may ask whether 7 percent annual returns are realistic or whether waiting 60 years for full maturity is too long. Yet even after only 10 years, the Samara Fund would accumulate reserves large enough to strengthen Canada’s fiscal position and public confidence. The point is simple: if we never start building, the future will only grow bleaker. A nation’s credit rating and its citizens’ optimism both improve when there is real money in the bank. Other nations prove disciplined investment works. Norway transformed oil revenues into a $1.6 trillion sovereign wealth fund. Singapore built one of the world’s strongest national savings systems through compulsory contributions. Sweden’s AP Funds insulated pensions from political short-termism. Canada can be the first to invest not in oil or forced savings, but in its most renewable resource: its people. Like the maple seed, the Samara Fund is designed to take root quietly, grow steadily, and secure Canada’s future for generations to come. The choice is clear: keep pushing costs forward until the system buckles, or plant the seeds of stability and sustainability now. Canada has the tools, the means, and a proven record of managing hundreds of billions of dollars in investment funds through the CPPIB. The Samara Fund secures hope, prosperity, and a future Canadians can count on, not only decades from now but also within 10 years through measurable gains to GDP and renewed confidence. Read the policy paper: