In a new nationwide survey among 3,000 Canadians conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Canada for the Broadbent Institute, Canadians were asked about their perceptions of inequality and the distribution of wealth in Canada. The findings demonstrate that Canadians vastly underestimate how skewed the distribution of wealth actually is and think there should be a much more equitable distribution.
Meanwhile, a large majority of Canadians believe income inequality has worsened in the last decade, and believe the government can — and should — do something to reduce the gap between rich and poor.
This survey was accompanied by the following short explainer video demonstrating the perceptions and misconceptions of wealth inequality in Canada.
Key Findings
According to the nationwide survey, conducted online from September 10 to 23, 2014:
- Canadians think the wealthiest fifth — or top 20% — of Canadians
hold more than half of the wealth in the country (55.5%) and
that the poorest fifth — or bottom 20% — hold less than 6%. In
actuality, the wealthiest hold more than two-thirds (67.4%) of the
wealth, while the poorest fifth of Canadians own no share at all.1 - Canadians think that the wealthiest 20% should hold only 30.3%
of all the wealth and that the poorest fifth should hold 11.5%. - Canadians think the ideal would be if the middle fifth held 23.7%
of wealth, a very different picture than the 9% the middle currently
holds. - The desire for a more equitable distribution of wealth holds
regardless of demographics or past political preferences, including
those who voted for the Conservative Party in 2011. - A large majority — four out of five Canadians or 80% — believe
the gap between the rich and everyone else has widened over
the last decade. Yet large majorities, regardless of demographics
or political preference, believe the federal government can and
should do something to reduce inequality. - Canadians across demographics and political preference
expressed their support for a range of progressive policies in order
to achieve greater economic equality
‘The Wealth Gap: Perceptions and Misconceptions in Canada’ is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
