Canada is facing \u201ccrisis levels\u201d of economic inequality as billionaire wealth soars and millions struggle with basic needs, according to a new brief from Oxfam Canada.<\/p>\n
\u201cEconomic inequality, both income inequality and wealth inequality, has reached crisis levels in Canada,\u201d the report says, adding that \u201cin 2025, income inequality was at a record high.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nationally, \u201cthe world\u2019s 12 richest billionaires have more wealth than the poorest half of humanity combined,\u201d and in Canada \u201cthe billionaire class is growing,\u201d with 89 Canadian billionaires in 2025. Oxfam reports that \u201cthe wealth of Canada\u2019s richest 40 billionaires grew by almost $95B, more than 20 percent\u201d between 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n
The brief states the richest one per cent \u201chold 3.9 trillion in wealth, almost as much as the bottom 80 percent combined,\u201d describing this as \u201ca wide, expansive, echoing wealth chasm.\u201d It notes that in 2024, \u201cmore than 25 percent of Canadians were living in food-insecure households,\u201d and \u201cup to 300,000 were experiencing homelessness.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Saskatchewan context<\/p>\n
Saskatchewan mirrors many of the national pressures highlighted in Oxfam\u2019s findings. Food Banks Canada\u2019s 2024 provincial report card shows the province had a 28 per cent food insecurity rate, one of the highest in the country. It also graded Saskatchewan\u00a0F\u00a0on indicators such as housing affordability, healthcare access, and overall poverty experience, as per foodbankscanada.ca<\/p>\n
Provincial data also shows poverty remains widespread. Saskatchewan\u2019s official poverty rate sat at 11.1 per cent in 2024, again graded\u00a0F, with nearly 39 per cent of residents spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. [foodsbankscanada.ca]<\/p>\n
Nationally, the Oxfam brief warns that inequality threatens democratic stability, stating \u201cthe more unequal a society, the greater the chance that democracy is eroded,\u201d and arguing that inequality \u201cdegrades\u2026 trust in authorities and institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
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As financial pressures intensify, Saskatchewan residents are experiencing the same affordability challenges cited in the report. Rising rents, high grocery costs, and insufficient income supports continue to strain households, trends consistent with Oxfam\u2019s national findings and supported by provincial data showing widespread economic instability.<\/p>\n
Oxfam argues the situation is not unavoidable.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u201cWealth inequality in Canada and globally is not an inevitability, it\u2019s a policy choice,\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Highlighting the absence of a federal wealth tax and pointing out that \u201ca progressive wealth tax\u2026 has the potential to\u00a0raise approximately $25B annually.\u201d It adds that addressing offshore tax havens could raise \u201can additional $15B annually.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Canada is facing \u201ccrisis levels\u201d of economic inequality as billionaire wealth soars and millions struggle with basic needs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-505804","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}