Record-breaking CEO pay should spark tax discussion: researcher

An economics researcher says record-breaking CEO compensation figures should spark a conversation about tax policies affecting Canada’s highest corporate earners.

Canada’s highest-earning executives were paid 246 times more than the average worker in 2022, according to a new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

The top 100 CEOs took home average salaries of $14.9 million in 2022, setting a new record.

David Macdonald, senior economist with the CCPA and author of the report, told BNN Bloomberg many of the highest-earning CEOs fill most of their salaries with vast sums of share awards are meant to incentivize CEO performance.