A new report from anti-poverty agencies suggests the two richest Canadians have the same amount of wealth as the poorest 30% of the country combined.
The Oxfam report says the wealth of billionaire businessmen David Thomson and Galen Weston Sr. equals that of about 11 million Canadians.
The group of organizations, under the banner group Oxfam International, published its report ahead of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which begins Tuesday. The report also said that the world’s eight richest people have as much wealth as the poorest 50% of the world’s population.
Oxfam made its calculations about global wealth distribution based on the Credit Suisse Global Wealth Data book, and calculated the wealth of the world’s richest people using the annual billionaires list from Forbes Magazine, which was last published in March 2016.
Wealth is calculated by subtracting a person’s debts from their assets, whereas income refers to the money or assets a person makes or receives over a period of time.
The authors of the study have said there are some things Canada can do to address the problem — such as policies for wealth redistribution used in Nordic countries, which tend to have less inequality — but they won’t work unless the population gets behind the changes.
