Londoners react to record-high income inequality in StatCan report

CBC

4 days ago

Some Londoners said they're frustrated, but not surprised, by the revelations from a Statistics Canada report showing the gap in wealth between Canada's top earners and the rest of the population is at a record high.
The Statistics Canada's report released this month details that in the first three months of this year, the difference in the share of disposable income between households in the top 40 per cent of the income distribution and the bottom 40 per cent grew to 49 percentage points.
It also said the gap has increased each year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
That's no surprise to Londoner Glenn Garinther, who said he's watched his purchasing power decrease swiftly since then, all while hearing about increasing bottom lines for the wealthy.
"The whole structure maybe sounded great at first, but something has got to change," he said. "I just don't think the government cares about the poor, because if they did, there would be structures in place to stop this."
Many of his peers are also feeling the economic pressure on a day-to-day basis, he said.
"I think it definitely looms on all of us unless you're doing extraordinarily well. It'll affect your soul," he said.
Garinther was loading two shopping bags of groceries and a case of soft drinks into his car while speaking with CBC News. "This was like 70 bucks right here. No meat in there at all," he said, noting the financial pressures many are facing.
On top of the widening wealth gap, shopper Hannah Perlini said she is feeling the pinch facing the high cost of living that haven't subsided since prices skyrocketed during the pandemic.
"It's a crazy statistic to me. I feel like there is a pretty big gap right now," Perlini said. "There should be more help for people and less of that gap."
Perlini said she's just on the other side of her post-secondary education, and groceries and housing top the list of difficulties when it comes to finances.
Even the traditional advice of making home-cooked meals and limiting time spent eating out isn't cutting it, she said.
"I usually just spend my money at the grocery store. I don't go out for dinners or anything like that, just stuff to live, and it's still so expensive."
Londoner Mike Bates said he believes the high cost of living makes the wide wealth gap even more unacceptable.
"I think it's no surprise that the rich keep piling up cash while the rest of us make that cash for them," he said. "But, do I think it's fair? No."
Statistics Canada said the wealth gap also increased as the top 20 per cent of the wealth distribution accounted for 64.7 per cent of Canadians' total net worth, averaging $3.3 million per household. Meanwhile, the bottom 40 per cent accounted for 3.3 per cent of net worth, which averaged out at $85,700 per household.