Canada's Top 20 Billionaires Get Richer by the Day The Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives (CCPA) in a new report says that Canada's top 20
richest billionaires have increased their collective wealth by $37
billion since March, when COVID-related lockdowns and closures began
across the country. The CCPA reports: "Some did
better than others, with the biggest gains going to the Thomson family
fortune (an estimated $8.8 billion increase in wealth), followed
closely by Shopify's Tobi Lutke ($6.6 billion increase) -- mirroring
some of the huge gains among big tech firms like Amazon and Apple south
of the border. Lululemon founder Chip Wilson has also done
exceptionally well, with a nearly $3 billion gain. "At the same time
as billionaires like Loblaws owner Galen Weston have seen their wealth
balloon, front-line workers stocking shelves and scanning groceries at
his stores have continued to risk their health and that of their loved
ones by coming into work." "Fundamentally this is
about the power of a wealthy few, such as Galen Weston's Loblaws, to
claw back the pandemic pay of frontline workers to increase their
profits," CCPA researcher and report co-author Alex Hemingway told Ricochet.
"And their power, under current policies, to amass huge portions of
wealth that is actually created by all of us." "But
if people get organized and exert pressure from below, it is possible
to change those policies and shift that balance of power," he said.
Ricochet informs that the list "leaves out
perhaps the world's richest person who holds Canadian citizenship: Elon
Musk. The Tesla founder's personal fortune has more than tripled during
the pandemic and is estimated at more than $120 billion." The
CCPA report notes, "Data from Forbes' annual billionaires list and
their 'real-time billionaires' listing shows that Canada's top 20
billionaires have amassed an average of just under $2 billion in wealth
gains during some of the most economically catastrophic six months in
Canadian history. This reflects the increasingly clear decoupling of
the stock market from the real economy." BC
billionaire Jim Pattison has also seen a big jump in his fortune, up
$1.7 billion since March. The chain of grocery stores he owns rescinded
hazard pay for workers in May, barely more than two months
into the public health emergency. The CCPA report says that when the
cut took place he told reporters he was "not involved" in the decision
but that "We own and finance the company." In
addition to advocating for a wealth tax, the CCPA report calls for
corporate tax reform and a crackdown on tax havens. Ricochet
writes: "For the billionaires whose ballooning fortunes are documented
in the CCPA report, a few percentage points makes a big difference.
With a wealth tax of 1 per cent on wealth over $20 million, the
Thomsons would pay just over $500 million. With an increase to two per
cent starting at $50 million, they'd owe over a billion dollars in
wealth taxes, which would still represent a mere fraction of the $8.8
billion they've amassed during the pandemic and leave them with a
personal fortune of just under $50 billion." For
the full report click
here.
This article was published in
Volume 50 Number 35 - September 19, 2020
Article Link:
Canada's Top 20 Billionaires Get Richer by the Day
Website: www.cpcml.ca
Email: editor@cpcml.ca
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