Canada's income inequality, corporate greed

The Toronto Star:

By noon on Tuesday, Jan. 3, the highest-paid chief executives officers in Canada will have earned as much as the average Canadian makes in an entire year, according to a new report.

The top 100 Canadian CEOs were paid an average of $8.4 million in 2010, a 27 per cent increase over the previous year, the report published Tuesday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says.

In comparison, the average Canadian earned $44,366 that year, or 1.1 per cent more than in 2009, the report called Canada’s CEO Elite 100 notes.

“The conclusion from these data is inescapable,” says the report written by Hugh MacKenzie, an economist with the Ottawa-based non-profit research organization. “Soaring executive salaries have played a significant role in driving the growth in income inequality in Canada.”

Among the country’s highest paid CEOs, taking the top three spots, were executives at Magna International Inc., including founder Frank Stronach at $61.8 million, co-CEO Donald Walker at $16.7 million and former co-CEO Siegfried Wolf at $16.5 million.

Meanwhile, for average Canadians, taking into account inflation, weekly earnings are now lower than they were during the depths of the 2008/09 recession, the report says.

“Canadians are feeling the squeeze of shrinking disposable incomes, a rising cost of living and record-high household debt,” the report says.

Reality is even harsher for Canada’s minimum wage workers. If they were lucky enough to have a full-time job, they earned on average $19,798 in 2010, the report says.

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