Canada is a rich country getting richer. But over the past 20 years, a huge portion of the country’s wealth increase has gone to a small handful of the super-rich. Canada’s one per cent have seen their share of Canada’s wealth grow by almost six times since 1999 to $2,203,000,000,000 USD today. Meanwhile, half of all Canadian families experience income insecurity and can’t get the support they need from ever-shrinking public services.

Canada’s super-rich gained $76 billion during the 12 months after COVID-19 hit. Canadians are ready for measures that would distribute wealth more fairly, and give governments the funds to pay for pharmacare, improve long-term care, take serious climate action, implement paid sick leave and more. But the Liberal government took no serious measures in its 2021 budget to tackle this issue.

Policy experts Jonathan Gauvin and Angella MacEwen show exactly how Canada’s wealth can be more fairly shared with measures that would impact only the one per cent: a wealth tax, higher taxes on the highest incomes, higher taxes on large corporations and higher taxes on big profits coming from capital gains. They also propose measures to shut down tax loopholes and tax havens and to tax web giants. This book shows how we can share the wealth so everyone will be better off — even the richest.

JONATHAN GAUVIN has been the federal NDP’s Director of Policy since December 2017 and contributed to the drafting of the NDP’s election platform in 2019. Prior to that, he was an issue coordinator in the NDP leader’s office. He holds degrees from the University of Ottawa and l’Université Laval. He’s a political buff who deeply wishes to build a better world for everyone, especially his two children. He lives in Gatineau, Quebec.

Jonathan Gauvin's profile page

ANGELLA MacEWEN is a senior economist with the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), a policy fellow with the Broadbent Institute and was an NDP candidate in the 2019 federal election. Angella writes a quarterly publication with CUPE, Economy at Work, which examines fiscal and social policy for workers. She holds a MA in Economics from Dalhousie University. She lives in Ottawa, Ontario.

Angella MacEwen's profile page

"Their text is clear, chock full of the latest statistical data, and carefully pitched to a general audience."

Literary Review of Canada