Canada’s richest CEOs are living the high life: the gap between their pay and average workers’ pay has never been greater. That’s gotta change.

02/01/26
Author: 
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives - CCPA
CCPA - Living the High Life - report cover

Jan. 2, 2026

Living the high life

Bleak news for ordinary workers: Canada’s 100 highest-paid CEOs have already made what it will take the average worker all of 2026 to earn.

The average worker's pay has increased by only 15 percent over the previous year, while CEOs' pay has risen by a staggering 49 percent. 

Meanwhile, regular costs are rising faster than workers' income: beef is up 39 per cent, eggs are up 36 per cent, rent is up 26 per cent and utilities are up by 23 percent. 

That’s the latest from our annual CEO pay report, Living the High Life: A record-breaking year for CEO pay in Canada, by CCPA Senior Economist David Macdonald.

“Canada’s highest-paid CEOs are enjoying another year of smashing new pay records,” Macdonald says. “Those 100 CEOs now make 248 times more than the average worker—the biggest pay gap in Canadian history.”
 
Read Living the High Life
 
We don’t have to stand by idly as this income gap keeps growing. David includes solutions in this year’s report, including a new tax on millionaires—which would apply to those 100 high-flying CEOs.

We’ll be pushing for that, and many more solutions this year.