By 9:04 a.m. January 2nd Canada's best paid 100 CEOs will have already pocketed what will take Canadians earning the average wage an entire year to earn.
That's right, by the time you boot up your computer and start another new year of work, the top 100 CEOs will have already pocketed the average Canadian wage.
And the party keeps on going, because the top 100 now average a little more than $10 million each in earnings. Some of these CEOs include those who head Canada's big banks - the very banks that received federal government bailout assistance in late 2008.
In 2007, the most recent year of data available for CEO pay, Canada's best paid 100 CEOs broke their own record. They pocketed just over $1 billion in pay, representing a 22% increase over the previous year's pay.
Average Canadian earnings rose by only 3.2% -- the best increase in the past five years, but a small fraction of the CEOs' pay hike; one that barely keeps up with inflation.
Every year, when the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives releases these numbers, media pundits write columns crowing about the importance of CEOs.
They expound on how highly paid CEOs are like a gift that keeps on giving; that their innovative leadership keeps Canada's economy thriving.
Curiously, there is no mention of Canadian workers' rising productivity levels and education credentials, no reporting of the increase in Canadians' working hours, or of the stagnant wages of Canada's middle class.
It is all about the CEO.
The tides are beginning to change. After a year of massive profit losses and dramatic company collapses south of the border, the wisdom of high paid CEOs has finally come under heavy public criticism.
In the U.S. especially, the conversation has shifted from revering CEOs for their own sake to being critical of a system of pay that gives CEOs incentive to take big risks without worrying about the fallout. In 2008 we saw the results of that kind of risk taking in the U.S. - it's affecting economies across the globe.
The question is, will we take this moment to find a better balance between what CEOs are paid compared to the rest of us?
That's the real challenge, because the current system of CEO compensation is not only distorting the way our economy works, and it's also becoming a major driver of income inequality in Canada.
Read the full report at http://www.growinggap.ca/research
-- Trish Hennessy