OTTAWA—Now more than ever, Canada’s rich are getting richer while the poor get poorer and the middle class stagnates, according to the latest census data released today by Statistics Canada.
Between 1980 and 2005, median earnings among Canada’s top earners rose more than 16 percent while those in the bottom fifth saw their wages dip by 20 percent.
“Most people, most of the time, are interested in who is getting poorer, not necessarily who is getting richer. At least from a policy perspective,” said Michael Haan, a sociology professor at the University of Alberta.