most people don't realize that income inequality effects us all and not just the poor. Our market-driven ideology has lead to the increasing income gap and needs to be changed. The reductions of income tax. Not only reductions of income tax and the disproportionate benefits to upper-income [individuals] takes away the money that's needed for post-secondary education, for health care, for Canada pensions, worsening the income gap.

Most of the income gains of the past three decades, the report argues, were realized by only wealthy Canadians. The paper suggests that social and economic rights be added to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms alongside Canadians' political and civil rights, in order to fulfil its "security of the person" provision. For every dollar increase in national earnings over the last 20 years more than 30 cents have gone to the top one per cent while the remaining 70 cents have been shared across the other 99 per cent of Canadians. The final section of the report is prescriptive, outlining several ways to combat growing income equality: -Good jobs: changes to economic policies to promote the growth of middle-class jobs, including trade and foreign investment policies that protect labour rights and environmental standards and strong investments in child care, public education and skills training. -Income supports: changes to the government programs targeted at low-income Canadians and those in short-term need, such as employment insurance, Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, provincial welfare systems and other income supports and tax benefits targeted at low-income families with children and the working poor. -Expanding public services: the report argues that for the majority of Canadians public services are a good deal; The value of education, health care, child care and other public services annually exceeds the taxes paid by middle-class and low-income Canadians. At the same time, some reforms are needed, it acknowledges. -Fair taxes: changes to Canada's tax system are necessary, it argues, pointing out Canada's taxes as a share of national income (31 per cent) are below the average of the world's industrialized countries (34 per cent), squeezing funding for public services.

The average income that families in the bottom 20 per cent make from employment has decreased by 60 per cent since 1980, whereas the average earnings in the top 10 per cent has grown by 45 per cent. Using data from 23 countries, British economist Richard Wilkinson has linked inequality to 10 social indicators like life expectancy, teenage births, obesity, homicides, imprisonment and infant mortality rates.

From the mid 1990's - late 2000's Canada had the fourth largest increase in income inequality among it's peers. Income inequality, along with corruption, were named as the two most serious challenges facing the world at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos. the impact of the growing income gap has gather little attention in Canada market forces and globalization are increasing disparity, along with institutional shifts such as dwindling unionization rates and stagnating minimum wages.