Environmentalism Ruined the Canadian Economy
- Justin Thomas
- Nov 3
- 6 min read
Myth: Canada’s economy is struggling because of environmental regulations, carbon pricing, and climate activism — not because of the wealthy hoarding resources and dodging taxes.
Canada's 1%: The Polite Version of Extreme Wealth
We pride ourselves on being more equitable than our neighbours to the south. Better healthcare, stronger social programs, a reputation for fairness.
But here's what the latest Statistics Canada data reveals:
Canada's Wealth Distribution (Q3 2024):
The Top 20%:
Hold 64.7% of all wealth in Canada
Average net worth: $3.3 million per household
The Bottom 40%:
Hold 3.3% of all wealth in Canada
Average net worth: $83,189 per household
The gap between them: 64.4 percentage points
And it's growing. Fast.
The Top 1%: Our Quiet Oligarchs
Who They Are:
Top 1% controls 25.6% of Canada's total wealth (Parliamentary Budget Officer, 2023)
To join the 1%: Requires net worth of approximately $7.5 million
Number of families: Approximately 177,000
Canada's 41 Billionaires:
Combined wealth: $324 billion (as of 2024)
Names you might not know: David Thomson, Jim Pattison, Galen Weston Jr.
These 41 people hold more wealth than the bottom 40% of all Canadians
The Really Obscene Part:
Top 0.01% (only 1,600 families): Hold $583 billion in average net wealth
That's more than the bottom 12 million Canadians combined
The Income Gap: Record-Breaking Inequality
Q3 2024 Statistics Canada Data:
The income gap between the top 40% and bottom 40% of Canadian households reached 46.9 percentage points — the largest gap ever recorded since data collection began in 1999.
What Changed (2023-2024):
Top 20% of households:
Average disposable income increased: $11,266 (+6%)
Driven by: Higher wages + investment returns
Bottom 20% of households:
Average disposable income increased: $93 (+0.3%)
Reality: Couldn't keep pace with inflation or rising costs
Middle class (third quintile):
Share of disposable income dropped from 17.4% to 16.6%
The squeeze is real
The Tax Reality: It's Complicated (And Rigged)
Here's where Canada gets tricky. Unlike the U.S., we don't have a ProPublica leak showing billionaires paying 1% tax rates.
What we do know:
1. Income Tax Looks Progressive (On Paper)
Fraser Institute data (2024):
Top 20% of earners pay 61.9% of all personal income taxes
They earn 46.4% of total income
Bottom 40% pay 2% of income taxes
Sounds fair, right?
But here's the catch: That's only measuring income taxes on reported income.
It doesn't account for:
Wealth appreciation (unrealized capital gains)
Money hidden in tax havens
Corporate structures that shelter personal wealth
Stock options taxed at preferential rates
2. Capital Gains: The Wealthy Person's Loophole
Until June 2024, Canada taxed capital gains at 50% inclusion rate — meaning only half of investment gains were taxed.
The Result:
A nurse in Ontario earning $70,000: 29.7% marginal tax rate on every dollar
A wealthy investor with $1 million in capital gains: 26.8% marginal tax rate
The worker paid more than the investor.
2024 Budget Change: The Liberals raised the capital gains inclusion rate to 67% for gains over $250,000.
Who it affects: Only 0.13% of Canadians (the wealthiest)
Projected revenue: $19.4 billion over 5 years
The backlash: Immediate and "vociferous" (as predicted by tax policy experts)
3. The Offshore Problem: $682 Billion Hidden
According to Canadians for Tax Fairness (2024):
Canadian corporations have at least $682 billion stored in offshore tax havens — a 165% increase over a decade.
Top Tax Haven Destinations:
Bermuda: $142.4 billion
Barbados: $120.6 billion
Luxembourg: $97.1 billion
Cayman Islands: $87.2 billion
Netherlands: $80.6 billion
Taxes avoided in 2024: At least $7 billion
Example: Brookfield (where PM Mark Carney worked before politics) has 44 subsidiaries storing wealth offshore.
The Mechanism: It's not illegal. Corporations and wealthy individuals legally use foreign jurisdictions with low-to-no taxation to shield wealth from Canadian taxes. These are often former British colonies — a colonial tax structure designed to benefit the elite.
What This Costs Canada (The Social Services Angle)
When the wealthy don't pay proportional taxes, everyone else suffers:
Child Poverty:
11.5 million Canadian children in poverty
Welfare income in provinces like Nova Scotia and Alberta is one-third of the poverty line
Housing Crisis:
Greater Vancouver area: Land value of detached houses alone = $744 billion (more than all Canadian billionaires' wealth combined)
Young Canadians under 35 increasingly priced out
29% now live with parents (up 9 points in 3 years)
Food Insecurity:
23% of Canadians reported food insecurity (2022)
2+ million people visited food banks in March 2024 (a record)
Healthcare Underfunding:
System strained, wait times growing
Maternal mortality: Worst among developed nations
Infrastructure Backlog:
Schools: $500 billion in deferred maintenance
Public transit, roads, bridges: Crumbling
The Structural Problem: Why It Stays This Way
1. Political Capture (Canadian Version)
Canada doesn't have Citizens United, but we still have:
Corporate lobbying (legal and extensive)
Wealthy donors influencing party platforms
Think tanks funded by billionaires (Fraser Institute, C.D. Howe)
Media ownership concentrated among the wealthy
Example: The 2024 capital gains tax increase — which affects only 0.13% of Canadians — generated massive pushback from business groups, wealthy individuals, and conservative media. Politicians noticed.
2. The "Fair Share" Debate Gets Weaponized
Whenever wealth taxes are proposed, you hear:
"The rich already pay most of the taxes!" (True in absolute dollars; misleading as % of wealth)
"They'll leave Canada!" (Rarely happens; data shows minimal flight)
"It'll hurt the economy!" (No evidence; inequality actually reduces GDP growth per IMF)
The Reality: The Fraser Institute (billionaire-funded) publishes reports saying the wealthy pay their fair share. Canadians for Tax Fairness (advocacy group) publishes reports saying they don't.
Both use real data. But one measures income taxes; the other measures wealth accumulation.
3. Public Support Doesn't Equal Policy
Polling on wealth taxes in Canada:
89% of Canadians support a wealth tax on the ultra-rich
Including 83% of Conservative voters
What's been implemented:
Nothing substantial
The 2024 capital gains change is modest and already under attack
Why the gap? Political power doesn't flow from public opinion when the wealthy control:
Campaign financing
Media narratives
Think tank "research"
Lobbying infrastructure
The Canadian Difference (Such As It Is)
Where Canada is marginally better than the U.S.:
✓ Universal healthcare (reduces inequality in health outcomes, though system is strained)
✓ Stronger social safety net (EI, CPP, though inadequate for many)
✓ Less extreme tax avoidance at the very top (no Bezos paying 0.98%)
✓ Political culture still values "fairness" rhetorically
Where Canada is trending American:
✗ Wealth concentration accelerating (top 1% went from 10% to 25.6% of wealth since 1980)
✗ Offshore tax havens growing exponentially (+165% in a decade)
✗ Housing crisis creating generational wealth divide
✗ Income inequality at record highs
✗ Middle class being hollowed out
✗ Public services deteriorating due to revenue shortfalls
The Bottom Line
Canada's 1% doesn't pay 1% tax rates like American billionaires.
But they benefit from:
Preferential capital gains treatment (now slightly less preferential)
Offshore tax havens ($682B hidden legally)
Corporate structures that shelter wealth
Political influence that blocks meaningful reform
The result:
Top 20% hold 64.7% of wealth
Income inequality at record highs
Social programs underfunded
Housing unaffordable
Food banks overwhelmed
Infrastructure crumbling
89% of Canadians want wealth taxes.
0% of that desire has translated into policy.
What Could Be Done
Possible Reforms:
Wealth tax on net worth above $10 million (NDP proposal; never passed)
Close offshore loopholes (requires international coordination; Canada signed OECD minimum tax agreement but enforcement is weak)
Inheritance tax on estates above $5 million (Canada eliminated federal estate tax in 1972; bringing it back would generate billions)
Higher capital gains inclusion rate (2024 change is a start; could go to 80-100%)
Minimum effective tax rate for high earners (ensuring billionaires can't structure income to pay near-zero)
End stepped-up basis at death (same loophole as U.S.; gains erased on inheritance)
Political feasibility: Low to none without massive social movement pressure
The Honest Canadian Assessment
We like to think we're better than the Americans.
We have universal healthcare. We say "sorry." We don't have Trump.
But economically?
We're on the same trajectory — just 10-15 years behind.
Wealth concentration: Growing
Inequality: Record highs
Social mobility: Declining
Housing: Unaffordable
Political capture: Deepening
The politeness is cosmetic.
The structural inequality is real.
And from where I'm sitting in Toronto, watching tent cities grow while billionaires hide $682 billion offshore, the gap between our self-image and our reality has never felt wider.
We're not immune to what's happening in America.
We're just slower to admit it.
The truth summarized:
Green transition policies can shift short-term jobs, but they don’t cause net economic decline.
In fact, renewable energy, electrification, and sustainable infrastructure create more jobs per dollar invested than fossil fuel industries.
What hurts the economy isn’t environmentalism — it’s delay.
Clinging to old extraction models means more environmental cleanup costs, declining competitiveness in global green industries, and massive public liabilities (like tailings ponds and orphan wells).
Put bluntly: fossil-era dependence is the economic drag, not the green shift.
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