Pay gap between us and Canada's top CEOs is more astronomical than we thought

It was another record-breaking year for CEO pay in Canada, and a new report highlights how the pay gap between the wealthy and the average Canadian keeps getting bigger and bigger.

It was another record-breaking year for CEO pay in Canada, and a new report highlights how the pay gap between the wealthy and the average Canadian keeps getting bigger and bigger.

The CCPA found that the average pay of the top 100 highest-paid CEOs in Canada hit a new record in 2024 of $16.2 million. It beat out the previous record set in 2022 of $14.9 million.

According to the report, this means that the wealthiest CEOs make 248 times more than the average worker's wage in Canada.

"The top CEOs make $7,812 an hour, so it only takes a little over eight hours to make the $65,548 annual pay of the average worker. By Jan. 2 at 9:23 a.m., those CEOs had already gotten what the average worker makes in a year," explained CCPA senior economist David Macdonald.

"The rich are living the high life while regular Canadians and workers struggle with inflation."

The report suggests that average workers' salaries can't keep up with inflation. It found that in 2024, the average Canadian worker got a pay increase of 15 per cent, while average rent went up by 26 per cent, and food prices soared, too.

"All of this means that workers took an effective pay cut of three per cent in 2024," reads the report.

Meanwhile, the top 100 CEOs saw their salaries rise a staggering 49 per cent since 2020, according to the CCPA.

"All that extra money Canadians are paying on inflated prices goes somewhere: corporate profits," said Macdonald. "CEO pay is mostly bonuses now, bonuses tied in some form to those corporate profits. When inflation drives profits, it also drives CEO pay through the stratosphere."

The top 100 highest-paid CEOs in 2024 include familiar names in the tech, financial, and telecommunications industries.

Shopify CEO Tobias Lütke topped the list, becoming the highest-paid CEO in Canadian history in 2024. He made a total of $205.5 million, all while his company cut 20 per cent of its staff and hiked rates for Canadian merchants.

"Over the 19 years that the CCPA has been tracking CEO compensation, we’ve never recorded a single year's compensation package that high," reads the report.

Other big names on the list include Mirko Bibic, president and CEO of Bell. He made a total of $12.8 million in 2024. Loblaw president and CEO Per Bank also cracked the top 100, with a total compensation of $11.6 million in 2024.

The CCPA is calling on the government to address the "rampant income inequality" between the ultra-rich and average Canadians through two tax measures.

The first is a millionaire's tax, for "anyone making over a million dollars would pay a slightly higher tax rate on each dollar over a million."

The second is a wealth tax, which would tax anyone with $10 million in net assets one per cent per year, increasing to three per cent per year for those with more than $100 million in assets.

This could increase over $20 billion a year, which the report says would be enough to fully fund both the national child care plan and eliminate wait times in emergency rooms.

"CEO pay continues to soar without restraints," said Macdonald. "And tax rates on Canada's richest are well below where they used to be. Meanwhile, food bank demand has hit all-time highs. We need to take action on income and wealth inequality in Canada, and taxation can be the control we need."

Check out the report for the full list of the highest-paid CEOs in Canada.