Health care, taxes, deficits, infrastructure and Syrian refugees have dominated the political headlines this past year.

Lower oil prices and a lower Canadian dollar are impacting our economy.

A new government elected in Ottawa has promised change.

But 2015 was truly a milestone year for Canadians for a different reason.

Fundamental change is happening across Canada in a way many of us don’t yet understand or realize.

For the first time in Canadian history, we have more seniors than children living in our country.

In September, Statistics Canada announced people aged 65 and older outnumbered children aged 14 and younger in Canada.

According to population estimates from July 1, 2015, people aged 65 and older made up 16.1% of the population, while those aged 14 and younger made up 16.0%.

Statistics Canada wrote, “It is a gap that will likely increase in the coming decades, driven by aging baby boomers.”

This milestone is important because it’s the younger generation that generates income to pay taxes that provide services seniors will need – like health care.

The trend does not come as a surprise.

In 2011, census data showed for the first time there were more people aged 55 to 64, typically the age group where people leave the labour force, than aged 15 to 24, typically the age group where people enter it.

The numbers mean that going forward we will have fewer people working and generating income to support more retirees whose life expectancy is longer than ever before.

If we have fewer young people to support an aging, larger population with an expensive health care bill, there are two possible solutions.

Young people need to generate more wealth than their parents, or we need more young people.

Solution one requires investments by governments today in an environment of competing priorities.

Education is the number one investment we can make in children today to enable them to earn a higher income than their parents.

Children aged 14 and younger need the best education we have ever given any generation. This isn’t happening.

Teacher strikes and work-to-rule campaigns are robbing a generation of their best possible education in some provinces – most notably Ontario.

Ironically, these students are the ones who in 15 years will need to work to pay for their teachers’ retirement costs and health care.

Tuition and other costs for post-secondary education remain a significant barrier for many Canadians to continue their schooling.

Yet the more education someone achieves, the higher income he or she will earn.

The time has come to debate the benefits of free, post-secondary education in Canada.

The 2015 federal election campaign was practically silent on post-secondary education.

Canadians need to pay more for the education of their young now, to enable that generation to pay for their quality of life in retirement.

The second solution is to have more young people support the baby boomers in retirement.

Canadian birth rates are not about to increase dramatically.

Immigration is the only way we can increase the number of young people in our country.

All those refugees “saved” by being admitted to Canada might actually be saving us.

In 2016, we will see many political debates about campaign promises and exciting, headline-grabbing scandals.

Climate change, oil prices and Vogue magazine pictures may grab the headlines.

But education and immigration are the two issues that most need our political attention.