One way to understand the changing nature of retirement in Canada is to look at the commercials featured on news networks.

On the first years of this century, a bank advertised its retirement planning services through a television spot where a couple gingerly discussed which destination—Provence or Tuscany—would be better to start their post-work lives.

Flash forward two decades and ads on the same network are urging Canadians to re-finance their homes through second mortgages. Clearly, a lot has changed over the past 20 years. We did go through a global financial crisis and a pandemic, and housing remains a paramount concern for Canadians aged 18-34.

This backdrop helps explain what British Columbians told us a couple of months ago about their views on three types of “health.”

More than half (55 per cent) told us they are “very worried” or “moderately worried” about their physical health. Concerns were lower for mental health (43 per cent) and higher for financial health (68 per cent).

The existence of a public health-care system, even if it has lost some lustre as a

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