The subject is too divisive to talk about. Politicians won’t touch it; business leaders seldom mention it; even within families, it is awkward.

The baby boom generation won’t let go. The 45-to-65 year-old cohort that stretched the school system, the universities, the workforce and the housing market is now firmly entrenched atop the employment hierarchy. Generation X (30- to 40-year-olds) can’t move up. Generation Y (20- to 30 year-olds) can’t get stable work, rent an apartment or start a family.

Mandatory retirement is no longer there to clear the decks. Six years ago, Ontario banned the practice. It is now prohibited in every province except New Brunswick.

Nor will economic growth loosen the logjam. The consensus among forecasters is that North America and Europe face 10 lean years.

Add to the mix a permanent loss of jobs in the manufacturing sector, a steady influx of well-educated immigrants looking for work and a determination to cut payrolls and it is hard to see much hope for Canada’s next two generations.

The symptoms of frustration are a manifold: spreading protests among stymied young people; a simmering backlash against foreign “job stealers”; rising household debt; bulging university and colleges; and increasing social tension.

Silence is not the answer. But who is going to break it?

The Toronto Workforce Innovation Group, a non-profit organization that brings together business, labour, academic and community leaders, intends to try. It has teamed up with Ryerson University’s Diversity Institute to host a two-hour forum this week entitled People, Jobs and the Economy: Managing a Multi-Generational Workforce.

The objective isn’t to come up with definitive answers; that would be impossible in an afternoon. It is to get employers thinking about how to make room for new talent, negotiate intergenerational compromises and move away from the rigid workplace structures of the industrial era.

Karen Lior, executive director of the organization, will begin by clearing away a few myths.

One is that everything would be fine if baby boomers would just get out of the way of those coming along behind them. But if they left, Canada’s tax base would contract sharply, businesses would lose upper management expertise and productivity would drop.

Another myth is that there is a culprit in this situation. But the middle-aged “job blockers” who seem selfish and obstructive to younger workers are in many cases supporting both their grown children and their grandchildren. The young job-seekers, who seem pushy and impatient to older workers, followed the rules they were given — they stayed in school, got good marks and went into debt to attend university or college — only to find there were no jobs when they graduated. And the immigrants, who seem to be “stealing” jobs from native-born Canadians, came to this country on the understanding their skills were needed.

But that does not mean there is no room for movement. There are mature workers who would be willing to reduce their hours gradually, if they could. There are time-starved employees who would opt for a healthier job-life balance. There are senior executives who would be happy to move into mentorship roles. There are employers who recognize that their productivity depends on hiring tech-savvy young graduates. And there are companies that have flattened their organizational structures, introduced flextime, experimented with job-sharing and developed progressive retirement programs.

These are just a few of the building blocks of a solution. But they provide enough potential for a rational discussion.

If Friday’s sold-out forum at the Ted Rogers School of Management is successful, it may embolden a few local employers to champion change, a few public officials to speak out about intergeneration equity and a few civic leaders to challenge the status quo.

This city has the capacity to break Canada’s stultifying silence. All it needs is courage.

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Next: Was abolishing mandatory retirement a mistake?

Carol Goar’s column appears Monday, Wednesday and Friday.