Last November, CEOWORLD Magazine released a list of the richest people in Canada for its annual Canada Rich List Index, and to my surprise, the list included 41 billionaires.
According to the financial publication’s annual listing, 2019 saw the total wealth of the top 10 richest Canadians hit a new record high of $96.4 billion.
That was last year. In 2020, the rich are only getting richer…
According to an article posted earlier today by Sara Mojtehedzadeh at the Toronto Star, Canada’s 20 richest people saw their fortunes grow by $37 billion over the past few months during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The data was based on a new study which shows the country’s top billionaires are collectively worth $178 billion— meanwhile, some 1.8 million Canadians have lost their jobs or seen their hours reduced as a result of COVID-19.
“Billionaire wealth has bounced back and expanded by billions of dollars while millions of Canadians struggle with the consequences of the pandemic,” says the study. And while the country sees glimmers of economic recovery, the gains are uneven.
During the Canadian COVID‐19 lockdown, TaxCOOP studied the wealth and donation profile of the GAFAM and the top 5 wealthiest Canadian individuals.
From March 16th to May 16th, cash donations from the five wealthiest Canadians represented only 0.09% of their wealth.
Over the same period, these five Canadians, who had an initial total wealth of US$59 billion, saw their wealth increase to US$64.5 billion, a total increase of more than 9%.
While the employment rate has improved since April, the pace of recovery in Canada is slowing and many worry a second wave of COVID-19 can do even more damage.
Here is a list of the richest people in Canada
David Thomson: $39 billion
Joseph Tsai: $10.2 billion
Galen Weston: $9 billion
David Cheriton: $6.4 billion
James Irving: $6.3 billion
Jim Pattison: $5.7 billion
Huang Chulong: $5.6 billion
Emanuele (Lino) Saputo: $5.1 billion
Chip Wilson: $4.6 billion
Mark Scheinberg: $4.5 billion
Alain Bouchard: $4.1 billion
Peter Gilgan: $4 billion
Arthur Irving: $3.5 billion
Daryl Katz: $3.1 billion
Bob Gaglardi: $3 billion
Tobi Lutke: $2.9 billion
Garrett Camp: $2.7 billion
Robert Miller: $2.7 billion
Mitchell Goldhar: $2.7 billion
Lawrence Stroll: $2.6 billion
Jean Coutu: $2.5 billion
Michael Lee-Chin: $2.4 billion
Carlo Fidani: $2.3 billion
Serge Godin: $2.3 billion
Charles Bronfman: $2.3 billion
Jacques D’Amours: $2.1 billion
Pierre Karl Péladeau: $1.8 billion
Stephen Smith: $1.8 B $2 billion
Marcel Adams: $1.7 billion
Stephen Jarislowsky: $1.6 billion
Hal Jackman: $1.6 billion
Gerald Schwartz: $1.6 billion
Mark Leonard: $1.5 billion
N. Murray Edwards: $1.4 billion
Bruce Flatt: $1.4 billion
Brandt Louie: $1.4 billion
Peter Szulczewski: $1.4 billion
K. Rai Sahi: $1.3 billion
Jack Cockwell: $1.3 billion
Terence (Terry) Matthews: $1.2 billion
Guy Laliberté: $1 billion