To the Editor:
A recent study from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives shows that Canada's best-paid 50 CEOs breezed through the end of the recession with earnings 235 times higher than the average Canadian income earner in 1991. For comparison, the earnings of these first 50 CEOs were 85 times higher than the average income earner 16 years before, in 1995.
I am not sure there are words to fully express my feelings with regards to these stats. Some words, though, can help me express the reasons behind such discrepancies - words that we would need to name and repeat if we wish to put an end to such a situation. They are: selfishness, contempt, cynicism, corruption, abuse and patronage. And if we want to push deeper, they are: political parties financing, lobbying, propaganda, media concentration, diversion of democracy and nonworking democracy.
I am sure Canadians do not only think this is unfair. An increasing number of them must also realize that only an equal sharing of powers - which is what would be a real democracy - would lead us towards an equal wealth sharing.
Bruno Marquis, Gatineau, QC.
