NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh plans to introduce legislation to 鈥渞ein in outrageous CEO pay鈥� by increasing the taxes of companies where CEOs make 鈥渆xcessive鈥� profits.
Singh told reporters Tuesday he鈥檚 taking a page from the books of U.S. Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren by introducing a private member鈥檚 bill that, if passed, would increase companies鈥� taxes based on a sliding scale: they could see increases ranging from 0.5 to 5 per cent depending on the size of the CEO鈥檚 salary compared to the median salary of a worker in their company.
鈥淲hat this bill will propose to do is to finally say clearly, that if you can afford to pay CEOs exorbitant salaries, then you should increase the wages of workers,鈥� Singh said. 鈥淭his is to decrease inequality. This is to force companies to stop the inequality that continues to grow.鈥�
According to the NDP, Singh's bill would "be similar" to the U.S. Senate Tax Excessive CEOs Pay Act that the party claims would have seen some companies pay significantly more if it had been law in Canada in 2021, including:
- Loblaw paying up to $106 million more;
- Rogers paying pay up to $23 million more; and
- RBC paying up to $200 million more in taxes.
The NDP leader is currently near the top of the list of MPs eligible to table a private members bill, improving his chances of doing so before the end of session.
While in the last month 鈥� dropping to 4.3 per cent in March, according to the latest Consumer Price Index from Statistics Canada released Tuesday 鈥� . In his remarks, Singh called out grocery chains and their CEO鈥檚 salaries directly.
Singh on Tuesday mentioned several times the salary of outgoing Loblaw president Galen Weston. It was announced Tuesday that Weston would be stepping away from the day-to-day operations of Loblaw, while staying on as chairperson of the board of directors and CEO of its parent company, George Weston Ltd.
Weston was one of three grocery store CEOs and presidents to appear in March, before a parliamentary committee studying inflated grocery prices.
According to , Weston鈥檚 compensation last year reached $11.7 million, a nearly $1.1-million increase from the year before, between both his roles as CEO of Loblaw and its holding company.
Singh was asked Tuesday whether Weston being replaced as CEO would change anything at Loblaw.
鈥淚'm not worried about Galen Weston,鈥� Singh said. 鈥淚 think he's going to be fine.鈥�
鈥淚 don't even know if this is actually stepping down or if he's getting a promotion, who knows how these things work in their corporate restructuring, but what I do know is that the new inflation numbers have come out today and the inflation price on food is still high.鈥�
Singh added it is 鈥渢he responsibility of government to step up鈥� in this case, because 鈥渢here is not limit to how much profit鈥� CEOs hope to make.
