SECRETARY-TREASURER’S MESSAGE
What would a Wealth Tax mean for Canadians? In the federal election, versions of a wealth tax appeared in several party platforms: whether a one-time tax, or an annual one per cent paid on wealth of more than $10 or $20 million. A wealth tax is not a new idea but it’s one that rarely sees the light of day, likely because big corporations and CEOs have far too much influence on our politicians. But it’s an important idea that could bring some balance of wealth back to Canada and provide funding for vital programs and services. In the last 18 months or so, more than 5 million people died from COVID-19 around the world. Here in Canada, the number of workers affected by either job loss or hours reduced by at least half peaked at 5.5 million,1 with hundreds of thousands still facing income insecurity. We’ve watched as our healthcare system, already understaffed and underfunded, struggled to maintain elder and patient care. We saw our hospitals reach capacity Page 4
Checkout Winter 2021
and stop elective procedures and even life-saving surgeries. We watched as far too many workers died from COVID-19. Working people everywhere have adapted to new realities at work and at home to keep their communities healthy, safe, and fed. Yet, throughout this same time, many employers raked in profits while refusing to pay premiums, lobbying against paid sick leave, and asking employees to face angry customers, work close to other people, and take care of the elderly and ill.
During the first year of the pandemic, the richest people in Canada got $78 billion richer.2 But this financial disparity existed long before the pandemic. “Research from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) showed that by 2016 Canada’s 87 richest families
each held, on average, 4,448 times more wealth than the typical family. Together these 87 families held more wealth than the bottom 12 million Canadians combined.” But, then, earlier this year, we watched billionaires go to space. Of course, not all billionaires went to space. Some were content just to fight tooth and nail to avoid giving their hourly workers premiums, substantial raises, health and safety protection, and more. And making personal space travel a priority doesn’t make someone a bad person. After all, those projects required innovation, research, and the labour of many working people. But the stark contrast of having the luxury of time and money to fly to space to look back on a planet that’s in crisis, or to protect millionaire shareholder profits instead of the livelihoods of working people, is a little troubling to say the least.
