A new report from global charitable organization Oxfam attributes rising income inequality in Canada to the COVID-19 pandemic, and is calling for higher taxation on the ultra-rich.
"The pandemic years were a bonanza for billionaires," Lauren Ravon, an executive director with Oxfam Canada, told CTV News Channel on Wednesday. "Every day they woke up and made more and more… while most people were struggling to get by."
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Ravon says that Canadian billionaires increased their profits in the energy, pharmaceutical and food sectors, and it comes as a cost to the rest of society.
"They are making more money because the rest of humanity has less," Ravon said, warning that "everything is proving that it will not trickle down."
To combat the growing wealth inequality in Canada, Oxfam wants to see more taxes placed on the richest in the country.
"If we had a five-per-cent tax on these super wealthy, we could be bringing in $1.7 trillion annually." Ravon said. "You can only imagine what we could do with that."
Watch the full interview by clicking on the video at the top of this article.
