Canada's income gap reaches record high, Statistics Canada finds
The agency says the difference in the share of disposable income between households in the top 40 per cent of the income distribution and the bottom 40 per cent grew to 49 percentage points in the first three months of the year.
Get daily National news
Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up
By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy
Statistics Canada says the measure has increased each year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the first quarter of 2025, it says the increase came as the highest income households gained from investments, while the lowest income households saw wages decline.
Those in the bottom 20 per cent of the income distribution saw the weakest growth in disposable income in the first quarter at 3.2 per cent compared with a year ago as their average wages edged down 0.7 per cent.
Story continues below advertisement
The average disposable income for those in the top 20 per cent of the income distribution increased at the fastest pace of any income group in the first quarter of 2025 as they benefited from a 7.7 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Global News
an hour ago
- Global News
Alberta failing to ensure daycares use funds to cut fees for parents: auditor general
Alberta's auditor general says the provincial government has not done the work to ensure daycares getting public funds use them to lower fees for parents or top up staff wages. Doug Wylie, in a report released Thursday, says without proper verification, Alberta could be overcompensating operators with federal and provincial funds meant to lower the average cost of daycare to $10 per day. 'There is a risk that public funds may not be used as intended — leading to parents overpaying for child-care and educators being under-compensated,' the report says. Under the program, daycare operators sign funding agreements with the province based on the number of children attending the daycare and their ages. Daycares must then submit reports to the province to back up their claims. In reviewing documents submitted by 25 daycares, Wylie's office found more than half delivered misleading numbers regarding things like attendance records. Some exaggerated the amount of time a child spent in care, and others filed duplicate records for each child. Story continues below advertisement There also were 'significant issues' found in three cases. The report says in one case, inaccurate reporting led Alberta to overpay a daycare by roughly $26,000 in a month. The report doesn't include an overall estimate for how much funding may be misspent year-to-year, but notes that Alberta spent over $1 billion on child-care and daycare subsidies in 2023-24. 2:02 Calgary family questioning changes to provincial childcare funding model Wylie, in an interview, said it wasn't the goal of his office to find an overall dollar figure. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Rather, the audit was focused on the efficacy of the government's processes in monitoring the 2,600 facilities that receive funding, he said. 'In an ideal world, the way it should work is the department's process should be able to identify those answers for you,' Wylie said of a potential dollar figure. Story continues below advertisement Similar to potentially not lowering parent fees, the report says the government also doesn't have processes in place to ensure daycare operators use funding from a separate program to top up staff wages. Beyond financial risks to families, Wylie said not having proper verification in place could lead to a lack of public trust in the program and others offered by governments. 'There's a perception that those programs should be well run and the integrity should be top notch.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's a perception that those programs should be well run and the integrity should be top notch." Wylie's office is recommending the government create new processes to verify claims made by daycare operators, and make sure operators are using their funding appropriately. 1:49 Alberta introducing $15-a-day child care for every parent Education and Childcare Minister Demetrios Nicolaides, in a statement, said his office will work to address the issues in the report. Story continues below advertisement 'I will be working with my department officials to implement a more streamlined and accountable claims system, among other tools to make sure our monitoring and performance measurement are based on accurate information,' Nicolaides said. 'We take the recommendations from the Office of the Auditor General seriously, and we thank them for their feedback on how we can strengthen accountability for public dollars to maximize its benefit to families and frontline educators.' Diana Batten, the Opposition NDP's children and family services critic, said the United Conservative Party government was failing parents. She noted the province recently ended a separate daycare subsidy program that she said led to significant cost increases for many. 'Smith and her uncaring government have delivered a double hit to parents struggling to afford child care, making it even more expensive,' Batten said in a statement. 'It's a failure to live up to their responsibility, improper management of public funds and it's just cruel.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "It's a failure to live up to their responsibility, improper management of public funds and it's just cruel." The province replaced the subsidy program, which applied to more than 65,000 children, with an overall flat fee that applied to all children attending licensed daycares and family day homes. 2:00 Alberta parents criticize $15/day child care plan replacing low-income subsidy Wylie's office released a second report Thursday providing an update on a previous audit it undertook on a government support program for businesses affected by COVID-19 public health measures. Story continues below advertisement That report says an internal government audit found as much as $105 million could have been doled out to ineligible recipients, but Wylie's office believed that number could be as high as $158 million. Wylie's report says the government is in the process of recovering $7.6 million, but has no further plans to try and claw back more. Economy Minister Joseph Schow said in a statement that after reviewing nearly 2,000 cases, the government believes 'the vast majority of applicants met program qualifications.'
Global News
5 hours ago
- Global News
Oilfield service group says relief from counter-tariffs on U.S. sand ‘fantastic news'
Canadian oil and gas drillers that import vast amounts of sand from the United States are getting relief from counter-tariffs that could have added heavy costs to industry. The sand is used in hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — to help free resources trapped in hard-to-access shale formations deep underground. It's among the imported U.S. goods on which Canada has imposed a surcharge in retaliation for President Donald Trump's flurry of tariffs. A notice in the Canada Gazette newsletter published Wednesday lists dozens of goods for which 'remission' is to be granted — including silica and quartz sand. The order applies to sand imported before Oct. 16. 'That is fantastic news for us,' said Gurpreet Lail, president and chief executive of oilfield services industry group Enserva. The retaliatory tariffs on sand alone would have added $275 million a year to industry costs, she said. Story continues below advertisement 'We work on really lean, tight budgets, and that would have been a huge blow.' Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "We work on really lean, tight budgets, and that would have been a huge blow." Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Lail praised Alberta Premier Danielle Smith for pressing the issue with Ottawa. Canada's energy sector uses about eight to nine million tonnes of silica sand, and it needs to meet certain specifications, Lail said. The bulk of that — about six million tonnes — comes from Wisconsin. 0:52 Mexico, Canada coordinate as Trump warns of new USMCA tariffs The rest can be sourced in Canada, but Lail said there are too many regulatory hurdles for sand producers to scale up and meet industry's needs. 'And to flip that on a dime really quickly when retaliatory tariffs came into effect, we just weren't positioned that way,' she said. Story continues below advertisement Lail said her group is still waiting to hear whether remission will be granted for other imported goods the industry needs, like coil tubing and drill bits. In an 'impact analysis statement' accompanying the order in the Gazette, the government said it received nearly 7,000 written submissions during a public comment period on proposed counter tariffs earlier this year. 'Canadian businesses, stakeholders, and partners generally confirmed their support for Canada's surtaxes on certain U.S. goods,' it said. 'However, some stakeholders noted concerns with their ability to shift supply chains away from the United States due to limited alternative sources of supply (short supply) or the requirement for certain inputs to comply with certification requirements, product specifications or contractual obligations.' Under specific circumstances — like when goods can't be sourced from elsewhere or would severely hurt the Canadian economy — businesses can be exempt from paying tariffs or be refunded for tariffs already paid. Previously, a six-month tariff holiday was granted to goods used in Canadian manufacturing, processing and food and beverage packaging, as well as imports used to support public health, health care, public safety and national security objectives. Vehicles were also granted remission so long as they maintained Canadian production and followed through with planned investments.
Global News
8 hours ago
- Global News
New rules allowing Quebec restaurants to charge for no-shows come into effect
See more sharing options Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Quebec restaurant owners can now charge a fee to people who make a reservation but don't show up. Under new rules in effect Thursday, restaurants can charge up to $10 for each no-show. An association representing Quebec restaurant owners has estimated that no-shows cost the average eatery about $49,000 per year. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Meanwhile, the Canadian restaurant industry association says Quebec was the only province with consumer protection laws that expressly forbade restaurants from charging no-show fees. Quebec restaurants have to follow a number of rules to apply the fee, including reminding customers of an upcoming reservation and giving them an easy way to cancel. The fee can be applied only to groups of two or more, and only if none of the members of the party shows up. Story continues below advertisement This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 17, 2025.
