Introduction

A leading European economic think tank places Canada as the 17th wealthiest nation in the world in 2017, 18th in 2019 and projected to be 18th in 2022 [Link]. Closest to us are Belgium, Hong Kong, Germany, Finland, France and the United Kingdom.

In September 2018 this was published...

"[G]overnments are enacting public policies that primarily benefit economic elites. Our research raises serious questions about government legitimacy and competency due to [the] issues [of poverty and hunger], and how the dereliction has significant impacts on the health and well-being of Canadians."

...by Professor Dennis Raphael, York University, and Associate Professor Toba Bryant, University of Ontario Institute of Technology [Link].

They go on to state:

"Economic elites also dominate political discourse through ownership of the mainstream media, funding of conservative policy institutes and lobbying efforts that weaken the social safety net"

and

"almost 50 per cent of Canadians have indicated they couldn't meet their financial obligations if their paycheque was a week late"

and

"[P]overty is not only widespread, but deep. Comparatively, Canada ranks 25th of 34 developed wealthy nations in controlling poverty rates."

and

Over the past 20 years, the incomes of the bottom 60 per cent of Canadians have stagnated, while growing sharply for the highest 20 per cent. Canada ranks 20th among 34 wealthy developed nations in managing income inequality.

Senior Research Associate Dr. Arne Ruckert made a submission to the House of Commons' Standing Committee on Finance [Link] that began with:

"[B]etween 1980 and 2007 ... the share of market income held by individuals at the top of the income distribution dramatically increased: for the top 1% and 0.01% from 8.1% to 13.3% and 2% to 5.3% respectively."

Professor Lars Osberg published The Age of Increasing Inequality: The Astonishing Rise of Canada's 1% in September 2018. This is said of his next seminal work:

"Canada is in a new era. For 35 years, the country has become vastly wealthier, but most people have not. For the top 1%, and even more for the top 0.1%, the last 35 years have been a bonanza."

And here's a glowing review of his work: Link.

This researcher and author conducted an extensive investigation into the evolution of the country's political system since before Confederation and discovered the root causes of wealth inequality; coming to the inescapable conclusion that like many second and third world elites, what he labels the Ottawa-Toronto-Montreal Triangle of Power and Wealth has through a multi-generational consolidation of political authority micro-managed the economy by way of government policies that extracted for its sole benefit upwards if not exceeding $10 trillion since the early 1990s. Its principals covertly, systemically and brazenly engaged in"prosperity theft".

It is defined as an elite that controls governance and systematically rigged the economy as a result of a plethora of policies and practices that allowed it over decades to covertly embezzle vast wealth to the detriment of the country's middle class and poor.

The goal is to nationally shine the transparency spotlight on what's been described by Oxfam Director of Policy & Campaigns Lauren Ravon as the "obscene gap between rich and poor".