Irvings slip down Canada’s richest list

OTTAWA – The poorest person on this year’s list of Canada’s richest 100 citizens is worth $540 million.

Videotron’s Andre Chagnon is billions of dollars – and more than 50 billionaires away – from the No. 1 spot which is held, as it has been for the past 12 years, by the Thomson family.

The majority owners of the Thomson Reuters information group saw their net worth grow by 6.2 per cent from 2009, to $23.36 billion, according to the list compiled by Canadian Business magazine.

The holders of the top three spots are unchanged from last year, though the first and second positions have changed hands: New Brunswick’s Irving brothers – James, Arthur and the estate of John, who died earlier this year – owners of the Irving group of companies – slipped to third place, as their wealth grew just 2.5 per cent to $7.46 billion.

Galen Weston, of George Weston Ltd. and Loblaw Cos. Ltd., moved from third place in 2009 to second in 2010. Weston’s wealth grew by 31.3 per cent last year to $8.5 billion.

But if you think Weston’s returns were good, consider this: Lululemon’s Chip Wilson saw his personal worth rise by 66.7 per cent in the past year, Canadian Business reports, to $1.25 billion. That was good enough for his placement on the list to move from 78th to 49th.

Others didn’t do so well – Research In Motion’s Jim Balsillie suffered a 32.4 per cent decline in net worth to $1.81 billion, and he dropped from 16th place to 30th. Montreal businessman David Azrieli fell to 11th place from No. 8 after his wealth slipped by 21.4 per cent.

The list has three new members – Pierre Karl and Eric Peladeau of Quebecor Inc., who debut at No. 85; Edward Sampson of Niko Resources Ltd. in Calgary, at No. 96; and Jack Cockwell of Brookfield Asset Management in Toronto was No. 99.

Wonder what the creme de la creme do with their money? Canadian Business notes that collections held by these worthies include gold coins, vintage aircraft, Inuit carvings and suits of armour.

The Canadian Business list follows a report released by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives earlier this week that says the country’s richest one per cent – those earning $405,000 or more a year – are getting richer faster than at any time in history.

The report, by CCPA senior economist Armine Yalnizyan, also notes, however, that the richest Canadians are becoming more like the rest of us, in that they rely on their jobs for almost 75 per cent of their income, "just like the average Canadian. The difference is their work is much more richly rewarded."

Yalnizyan also notes that in 1948, people who earned more than $250,000 – $2.37 million in today’s dollars – were taxed at 80 per cent, while in 2009 the top marginal tax rate was 42.9 per cent for incomes over $126,264.

"Combine record-breaking growth in incomes with historically low top tax rates, and the richest one per cent is taking a bigger piece of the economic pie today than at any time in the past century," Yalnizyan writes.

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Top 10 richest Canadians

Name Net Worth % change from 2009 2009 Rank City

1. Thomson family $23.36 billion 6.2 1 Toronto

2. Galen Weston $8.5 billion 31.3 3 Toronto

3. Irving family $7.46 billion 2.5 2 Saint John

4. Rogers family $6.02 billion 28 5 Toronto

5. James Pattison $5.53 billion 9.1 4 Vancouver

6. Paul Desmarais Sr. $4.28 billion 0.2 6 Montreal

7. Bernard Sherman $3.94 billion 2.3 7 Toronto

8. Jeff Skoll $3.56 billion -0.8 9 Palo Alto, California

9. Saputo family $3.52 billion 27.4 12 Montreal

10. Fred and Ron Mannix $3.18 billion 6.9 10 Calgary

Source: Canadian Business