19 more documents unsealed from lawsuit connected to Jeffrey Epstein - CBC.ca

Nineteen more documents that are part of a lawsuit connected to accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein were unsealed on Thursday.

CBC News is currently reviewing the newly unsealed documents. Those named in the documents are not necessarily accused of any wrongdoing; some of the people named are those making allegations or are potential witnesses.

Epstein, a disgraced financier known for associating with celebrities, politicians, billionaires and academic stars, died by suicide in a Manhattan jail cell while awaiting trial on sex-trafficking charges in 2019. In 2008, he pleaded guilty to soliciting prostitution from a minor.

The documents being unsealed relate to a 2015 lawsuit brought against Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's former girlfriend, who is serving a 20-year sentence on sex-trafficking charges. That lawsuit was settled in 2017, but documents in the case are still being released years later.

That lawsuit was filed by Virginia Giuffre, who is one of Epstein's victims. She's one of dozens of women who sued Epstein saying he had abused them.

Around 40 documents from the lawsuit were initially made public Wednesday.

WATCH | What's in the documents being unsealed? 

Jeffrey Epstein court documents unsealed

23 hours ago

Duration 1:50

A New York court has unsealed documents that contain a list of people associated with Jeffrey Epstein in some way. Those named are not necessarily accused of wrongdoing, as some are making allegations or are potential witnesses. The documents include testimony from depositions made about the sex trafficking of young girls by Epstein and his co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell.

The documents being unsealed largely contain material that had been released previously, or had been covered exhaustively in nearly two decades of newspaper stories, TV documentaries, interviews and books about Epstein. 

The documents released Thursday largely focused on legal squabbles over Giuffre's lawsuit and her connection to a British tabloid reporter whom Maxwell's lawyers accused of compelling her to fabricate some of her allegations.

Though the documents didn't offer much new insight into individuals in Epstein and Maxwell's world, more are expected to be unsealed and released Friday and Monday.

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New documents in the Jeffrey Epstein case detail how girls were recruited to his home - NBC News

Another set of unsealed documents related to the late financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein was released Thursday, many of them focusing on how teen girls were recruited to go to his Florida home.

Some of the depositions released Thursday center on how girls were convinced to go to the home and then were asked to bring friends for additional payment.

One woman who was 16 or 17 at the time said she had no massage experience and no assumption or expectation that the visit would involve sexual activity.

“Jeffrey took my clothes off without my consent the first time I met him,” according to a transcript of a deposition from the woman, whose name has been redacted.

Former Palm Beach police Det. Joseph Recarey, who is now deceased, said in 2016 that Ghislaine Maxwell, now serving 20 years in prison, was involved in seeking girls to give massages and work at Epstein’s home.

Recarey said he interviewed around 33 women, according to a transcript. Only two, who were older, had any massage experience, he said. Most of the girls were younger than 18.

"Each of the victims that went to the home were asked to bring their friends to the home. Some complied and some didn’t," Recarey said.

The descriptions of how women were recruited contained in the documents is consistent with what was testified to at Maxwell’s criminal trial. Nineteen exhibits totaling 327 pages of previously sealed documents were released Thursday by a federal court in New York.

The disclosure is part of a settled lawsuit first filed in 2015 against British socialite and Epstein confidant Maxwell byVirginia Roberts Giuffre, who said she was a victim of sex trafficking and abuse when she was a teenager in the early 2000s.

In total, the hundreds of pages of unsealed documents — which are the latest to attractonline conspiracy theorists in the wake of Epstein’s 2019 death — are expected to make public the names of more than 150 people connected to or mentioned in legal proceedings related to Epstein and his network, which prosecutors said involved luring underage girls and young women to engage in sex acts with powerful men.

Epstein killed himself in a Manhattan jail cell while facing charges of sex trafficking and conspiracy.

Most of the contents of the documents of Thursday's release were well-known and do not implicate new third parties.

In December, afederal judge in New York ordered the documents from Giuffre’s lawsuit to be unsealed beginning this month, which is being done on a rolling basis. Those who have objected to their names being unredacted were able to appeal, and their identities remain blocked while under review by the judge.

Dozens of documents were released Wednesday, with much of the information and names already known from prior public records and interviews. Still, the materials laid out the extent of Epstein’s orbit, with details provided in depositions from Giuffre and another woman, Johanna Sjoberg, who said she was recruited by Maxwell as a massage therapist while she was attending Palm Beach Atlantic College in 2001.

Giuffre said in a deposition that at different times she was directed to have sex with Britain’s Prince Andrew, another prince, the unnamed owner of a large hotel chain and Glenn Dubin, a billionaire hedge fund manager, according to a transcript.

A request for a response from Andrew has not been returned, but he has strenuously denied the claim previously. A spokesperson for Dubin in 2019 and again Wednesday said he “strongly den[ies] these allegations” and described them as unsubstantiated statements.

Former presidents Bill Clinton and Donald Trump also were mentioned in depositions, none of which included allegations of wrongdoing.

In her 2016 deposition, Sjoberg said Epstein once spoke about Clinton.

“He said one time that Clinton likes them young, referring to girls,” the deposition reads. There is no mention of wrongdoing in the document, and the questioning moves on. Sjoberg said she had never met Clinton and never saw him on Epstein’s private island in the Caribbean.

On Wednesday, a spokesman for Clinton referred to a statement from 2019 that said he had not spoken to Epstein in over a decade and was unaware of any criminal activity at that time.

Trump’s name also appears in the deposition by Sjoberg, which includes no allegations of wrongdoing.

She recounted that when Epstein’s plane would have to land in Atlantic City, New Jersey, “Jeffrey said, ‘Great, we’ll call up Trump’” and go to a casino, she said in her deposition. Sjoberg also said she never gave Trump a massage.

Trump did not respond to a request for comment Wednesday. He has previously said he had not been in touch with Epstein for 15 years before his death, and in 2019, Trump said he was “not a fan“ of Epstein’s.

Sjoberg also said she had once met singer Michael Jackson at Epstein’s home in Palm Beach, Florida, but did not massage him. She also said she met magician David Copperfield at a dinner at Epstein’s. She recounted that there was another woman at dinner who looked very young and that she wondered whether it was possible she was in high school, according to the documents.

Sjoberg said Copperfield did magic tricks at the dinner, and “he questioned me if I was aware that girls were getting paid to find other girls,” the deposition reads. Asked whether Copperfield described any specifics, Sjoberg said no.

Copperfield did not respond to a request for comment.

Epstein was facing multiple sex trafficking charges when he hanged himself in a federal jail in Manhattan in 2019, as a trove of incriminating material had just been unsealed in court. He had pleaded guilty in 2008 to prostitution-related charges in Florida and was required to register as a sex offender.

Giuffre alleged that Epstein sexually abused her and that Maxwell and Epstein directed her to have sex with other men from 2000 to 2002. The case, which Giuffre brought after Maxwell accused her of lying when she said Maxwell and Epstein had exploited and abused her, was eventually settled out of court in 2017.

An email in the documents released Wednesday appeared to show Epstein telling Maxwell in January 2015 to offer “a reward” to any of Giuffre’s friends or acquaintances who could help disprove Giuffre’s allegations.

A year after Epstein’s death, Maxwell was arrested on charges in connection with the recruitment and grooming of teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. She was convicted of five federal sex trafficking charges and sentenced in 2022 to 20 years behind bars.

Maxwell, 62, is in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida, and appealing the verdict.

Giuffre’s attorney, Sigrid McCawley, said Wednesday that her client is fully supportive of the documents in her lawsuit being unsealed.

“Her position has always been that if the information is going to come out, all of it should come out,” McCawley said. “Everybody should know everything — that’s in fairness to all of those who have been involved.”

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More than 103 dead in blasts at Iran memorial for assassinated commander - The Guardian

More than 103 Iranians were killed and scores more injured in a terrorist attack at a ceremony in Iran to commemorate the assassination of a top general, further heightening tensions in the increasingly volatile Middle East.

The explosions came at a memorial ceremony in Iran marking the fourth anniversary of the US killing of Qassem Suleimani, the head of Iran’s al-Quds force, and it was not clear whether either of Suleimani’s principal regional adversaries – Israel or Islamic State – were responsible for the carnage.

Iran’s new minister of interior, the hardliner Ahmad Vahidi, did not immediately attribute blame for the attack and no side claimed responsibility for the deadliest single terrorist incident since the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

The attack could not have come at a more febrile moment in the Middle East, with distrust so high. Fighting between Hamas and Israel continues to rage in Gaza, and Hamas accused Israel of launching a drone attack on Tuesday that killed its deputy head in Beirut. That attack saw limited casualties in a densely populated neighbourhood of the Lebanese capital.

Israel’s hallmark is targeted assassinations of key military and scientific figures inside Iran, as opposed to mass terrorist attacks on civilians, but it has also said its rules of engagement have changed in response to the Hamas killings on 7 October, for which Israel holds Iran ultimately responsible.

Iran’s president, Ebrahim Raisi, responded by saying: “The enemies of the nation should know that such actions can never cause a disturbance in the iron determination of the Iranian nation to defend Islamic ideals.”

He added that the attacks only made Iran more determined “to dry up the roots of terror and violence”. Iran has shown no desire to become directly embroiled in fighting Israel, preferring instead to provide support to proxy groups.

Officials said the explosions were caused by two bombs that were detonated remotely.

Witness reports spoke of two explosions 15 minutes apart in the south-central city of Kerman tearing into the crowds that had gathered to mark the death of Suleimani, once regarded as the most powerful figure in the Middle East, and responsible for extending Iranian influence in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq.

According to Irna news, the first explosion occurred 700 metres from Suleimani’s burial place and the second was 300 metres further away.

State-run media in Iran cited Babak Yektaparast, a spokesperson for the country’s emergency service, as saying 73 people had been killed, but the death toll rapidly rose in the afternoon. A day of mourning was announced for Thursday.

The blasts occurred on the roads leading to Golzar Shohada, the Garden of Martyrs cemetery in Kerman, Suleimani’s hometown. His body is buried in the cemetery along with 1,024 other people regarded as martyrs, and the site has become a place of pilgrimage for supporters of the so-called “axis of resistance” against the US and the west. Hospitals in Kerman and surrounding areas were put on alert to treat the injured.

Zul Nouri, the deputy speaker of the Iranian parliament, claimed: “The non-suicidal nature of the terrorist attack in Kerman shows that it is an act of the Zionist regime. We will punish the Zionist regime with a revenge that will have global operational value.”

Kianush Jahanpur, the former spokesperson of Iran’s health ministry during the Covid outbreak, said on social media: “The answer to this crime should only be in Tel Aviv, Haifa.”

Many world leaders, including the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, confined themselves to expressions of sympathy and did not seek to identify the perpetrator.

Significantly in September, the Fars news agency had reported that a key “operative” affiliated with the Islamic State group, in charge of carrying out “terrorist operations” in Iran, had been arrested in Kerman. In 2017 an Isis group of five terrorists attacked the Iranian parliament building and the mausoleum of Ruhollah Khomeini, killing 17 civilians and injuring 43. Tehran has claimed it has stopped other Isis attacks inside Iran that were targeted at civilians in public places.

Other foes who could be behind the attack include exile groups, nationalist forces and state actors. Iran only recently said it had eradicated a group backed by the Mossad, the Israeli state secret service.

On 25 December, an Israeli airstrike in Syria killed a top commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, prompting Tehran to threaten that Israel would “certainly pay” for its actions.

Iranian state media identified the commander as Razi Mousavi, a senior adviser of the al-Quds force, saying he had been killed in an airstrike near the Syrian capital, Damascus. Fighting is also continuing on the Lebanese-Israeli border.

At the same time, US and UK warnings to Iran to end its support for the attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea being launched by Houthi forces in Yemen appear to have fallen on deaf ears. The Houthis said on Wednesday they were responsible for firing two more missiles at merchant ships travelling near the narrow Bab al-Mandeb strait. It was the first attack since the US said it might fire on Houthi missile launchers inside Yemen.

The Houthis have vowed to maintain the attacks until Israel allows more humanitarian aid into Gaza. Major commercial shipping lines including the Danish shipping giant Maersk extended a suspension of services through the Red Sea “until further notice”, pointing to the threats to its crew and cargo. The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, spoke to the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, about the Yemen crisis on Tuesday.

Suleimani was killed in a US drone strike in Baghdad in 2020 ordered by Donald Trump and was seen as the leader directing Iranian proxy forces in Iraq and Syria. His Shia forces, part of the Revolutionary Guards and more powerful than the Iranian foreign ministry, were also determined foes of the Sunni Islamic State group.

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Harvard psychologist: If you answer 'yes' to these 9 questions, you're 'more emotionally secure than most' - CNBC

Emotionally secure people feel empowered, confident and safe. They live authentically and stick to their own values and beliefs, even when doing so may rub others the wrong way.

As a Harvard-trained psychologist, I've seen how emotional security can also help people have more gratitude for the good in their lives, as well as be more creative, spontaneous and free.

If you answer "yes" to any of these questions, you're more emotional secure than most people:

1. Can you listen to different perspectives you disagree with?

Emotionally secure people are able to hear other points of view without reacting to them in an aggressive way.

Instead of going to battle, there is a flexible, empathic and non-judgmental exploration of another person's reality — even during times of conflict and disagreement.

2. Can you set healthy boundaries?

Emotional security is associated with knowing yourself and setting limits based on your values.

Consequently, emotionally secure people can articulate how they want to be treated and set guidelines for how they will respond if those boundaries are not respected.

3. Can you admit when you're wrong?

All of us are wrong sometimes, but it can be very difficult to own up to it. Emotionally secure people can acknowledge when they've made a mistake, take responsibility, and apologize for their actions.

4. Do you know your core values and beliefs?

Are you able to communicate your perspective in a respectful way, even when others may strongly disagree?

Emotional security is associated with being authentic, knowing one's values and acting in a way that's consistent with them in all life situations.

5. Can you express negative emotions respectfully?

Being emotionally secure means communicating your feelings in a respectful way that focuses on your internal experience.

Often, this is reflected by using "I" statements, like "I feel" or "I think," instead of blaming others for your circumstances.

6. Can you take criticism from others?

Receiving constructive feedback without immediately rejecting it or lashing out is a key sign of emotional security.

It means you have a strong sense of self that takes into consideration other people's perspectives and opinions about your approach to things, without taking them personally.

7. Do you continually strive to change and grow?

The most emotionally secure people have an appreciation for the journey of life and the process of evolving over time. 

They are not afraid to embrace change. They find joy and satisfaction in the idea of learning and becoming the best version of themselves.

8. Can you stop yourself from reacting impulsively?

Emotionally secure people tend to be skilled at deliberately choosing their responses to difficult situations.

In this way, they aren't usually reactive or impulsive in their relationships and can articulate themselves clearly, even when they are angry or upset.

9. Do you trust that you'll be okay, not matter what challenges come your way?

Emotionally secure people know that life can be difficult, and they have a general acceptance that they will deal with hardship as it comes.

They also have a deep sense of gratitude for what is important to them, which helps them through the rough patches.

Being emotionally secure not only boosts our mental health, but it gives us the confidence to try new things and express ourselves freely without a fear of rejection. The more secure we feel in our own skin, the more freedom we have to enjoy our lives while building meaningful, authentic relationships.

Dr. Cortney S. Warren, PhD, is a board-certified psychologist and author of the new book "Letting Go of Your Ex." She specializes in romantic relationships, addictive behavior, and honesty. She received her clinical training at Harvard Medical School after earning her doctorate in clinical psychology from Texas A&M University. Follow her on Instagram or Twitter @DrCortneyWarren.

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Japan earthquake: Death toll rises to 48 as officials warn of more quakes - Global News

A series of powerful earthquakes that hit western Japan have left at least 48 people dead and damaged thousands of buildings, vehicles and boats. Officials warned that more quakes could lie ahead.

Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas a day after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed the area on Monday afternoon.

Forty-eight people were confirmed dead in Ishikawa, officials said. Sixteen others were seriously injured, while damage to homes was so great that it could not immediately be assessed, they said.

Japanese media reports said tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. Government spokesperson Yoshimasa Hayashi said 17 people were seriously injured and gave a slightly lower death tally, while saying he was aware of the prefecture’s tally.

Water, power and cell phone service were still down in some areas, and residents expressed sorrow about their destroyed homes and uncertain futures.

“It’s not just that it’s a mess. The wall has collapsed, and you can see through to the next room. I don’t think we can live here anymore,” Miki Kobayashi, an Ishikawa resident, said as she swept around her house.

Their house was also damaged in a 2007 quake, she said.

1:15 7.6 magnitude earthquake hits central Japan

Although casualty numbers continued to climb gradually, the prompt public warnings, relayed on broadcasts and phones, and the quick response from the general public and officials appeared to have kept at least some of the damage under control.

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The rescue efforts that quickly followed from firefighters, police and the military proved a testament to how this nation has repeatedly withstood disasters, which have practically become a part of everyday life.

Toshitaka Katada, a University of Tokyo professor specializing in disasters, said the people were prepared because the area had been hit by quakes in recent years. They had evacuation plans and emergency supplies in stock.

“There is probably no people on earth other than Japanese who are so disaster-ready,” he said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.

Katada warned the situation remains precarious and unpredictable. The March 2011 quake and tsunami in northeastern Japan had been preceded by other quakes.

“This is far from over,” Katada said.

Predictions by scientists have repeatedly been proven wrong, such as with the 2016 quake in southwestern Kumamoto, an area previously seen as relatively quake-free. The only real projection possible is that you can’t make projections, Katada added.

“Having too much confidence in the power of science is very dangerous. We are dealing with nature.”

Police officers conduct a search operation at a destroyed house following an earthquake in Wajima, Ishikawa prefecture, Japan Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. Kyodo News via AP

Japanese media aerial footage showed widespread damage in the hardest-hit spots, with landslides burying roads, boats tossed in the waters and a major fire that had turned an entire section of Wajima city to ashes.

Japan’s military dispatched 1,000 soldiers to the disaster zones to join rescue efforts, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Tuesday.

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“Saving lives is our priority and we are fighting a battle against time,” he said. “It is critical that people trapped in homes get rescued immediately.”

A quake with a preliminary magnitude of 5.6 shook the Ishikawa area as he was speaking. More quakes continued to rock the area, reaching more than 100 aftershocks over the past day.

Nuclear regulators said several nuclear plants in the region were operating normally. The 2011 quake and tsunami caused three reactors to melt and release large amounts of radiation at a nuclear plant in northeastern Japan.

News videos showed rows of collapsed houses. Some wooden structures were flattened and cars were overturned. Half-sunken ships floated in bays where tsunami waves had rolled in, leaving a muddied coastline.

On Monday, the Japan Meteorological Agency issued a major tsunami warning for Ishikawa and lower-level tsunami warnings or advisories for the rest of the western coast of Japan’s main island of Honshu, as well as for the northern island of Hokkaido.

A woman bikes amid damaged houses in Noto town in the Noto peninsula facing the Sea of Japan, northwest of Tokyo, Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024, following Monday’s deadly earthquake. AP Photo/Hiro Komae

The warning was downgraded several hours later, and all tsunami warnings were lifted as of early Tuesday. Waves measuring more than one meter (3 feet) hit some places.

People who were evacuated from their houses huddled in auditoriums, schools and community centers. Bullet trains in the region were halted, but service was mostly restored by Tuesday afternoon. Sections of highways were closed.

Weather forecasters predicted rain, setting off worries about already crumbling buildings and infrastructure.

The region includes tourist spots famous for lacquerware and other traditional crafts, along with designated cultural heritage sites.

U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement that his administration was “ready to provide any necessary assistance for the Japanese people.”

Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes because of its location along the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.

Kageyama reported from Tokyo. Videographer Richard Columbo contributed from Wajima.

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Canada's highest-paid CEOs make 246x the average worker, says new report - CBC.ca

It was another record-breaking year for Canada's richest CEOs. 

In one work day, and less than a half hour into the new year — 27 minutes to be exact — Canada's 100 highest-paid CEOs will have already earned the average worker's annual salary, according to a new study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

It translates to roughly $60,600 by 9:27 a.m. on Jan. 2, if you include Monday as a paid holiday, according to the report. 

The CCPA, an Ottawa-based think-tank that focuses on social, economic and environmental issues, found that the 100 best-paid CEOs in Canada now make 246 times what the typical worker earns. That number breaks last year's record of 243 times the average worker's pay. 

"The 100 CEOs, who are overwhelmingly male, got paid an average of $14.9 million in 2022. This amount surpasses their previously record-breaking pay of $14.3 million in 2021 and sets a new all-time high in our data series," said David Macdonald, a senior economist at the CCPA and the report's author. 

Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, Canada's largest private sector union, calls the report "enraging."

"We've seen CEO pay increase consistently over the last number of years to a point now where it's the highest it's been ... And at the same time we have these CEOs and the employer clubs that they're part of lobbying every single day and fighting tooth and nail to make sure that we don't have better labour laws in this country," she said.

How one CEO tries to keep things on an 'even scale'

Not all CEOs, however, are paid such large amounts of money. Hosni Zaouali, the CEO of ConnectED Labs, a Toronto-based technology company, has a specific formula that he said he follows to ensure his pay and his employees' pay are on an "even scale."

He said the highest salary at his company is "never 10 times higher than the lowest salary."

Hosni Zaouali, the CEO of ConnectED Labs, says the highest salary at his company is never more than '10 times higher than the lowest salary.' (CBC News)

"It means that if the company shows success, operational success and financial success, it's not only thanks to the CEO, it's also thanks to everybody, including the lowest salary in the company. So we make sure that everybody gets compensated accordingly," he said. 

Zaouali said it's "very important that the lowest salary is not too far from the highest salary in our company to keep everybody energized and everybody motivated."

While base salary is an important factor when considering CEO wealth, it doesn't provide a full picture of their total compensation, according to the CCPA report. 

A 'story about inflation' 

Like last year's report, which CBC News also covered, part of the explanation for the large increases in CEO pay is linked to inflation, Macdonald said.

"This is largely a story about inflation ... CEOs are paid primarily through bonuses, and those bonuses are based on things like revenue and profits. When revenue and profit goes through the roof due to inflation, bonuses go through the roof."

Macdonald said despite this, salaries for average workers are often not keeping up with inflation.

"In 2022, the average worker in Canada got an average pay raise of $1,800, or three per cent. But prices went up by 6.8 per cent in 2022, meaning workers took a real pay cut of almost four per cent compared to 2021."

WATCH | 'It's a lot harder than it usually is': Budgeting for holiday shopping with inflation: 

‘It’s a lot harder than it usually is’: Budgeting for holiday shopping with inflation

18 days ago

Duration 1:38

Shoppers and their wallets are feeling the pain of the increase in the cost of living this holiday season.

In comparison, the top 100 CEOs saw an average pay raise of $623,000, or 4.4 per cent in 2022, according to the report.

One economist said studies like the one presented by the CCPA are "flawed."

"The only way you can arrive at this conclusion is that you're comparing oranges with apples," said Vincent Geloso, an assistant professor of economics at George Mason University in Virginia. 

Geloso said reports like this fail to include other forms of employee compensation like benefits.

"People get more fringe benefits in the form of insurance, in the form of flexible hours. Things that employers pay for but aren't considered compensation. When you include them, and you include that instead of wages alone, you're getting a completely different portrait."

In a 2020 report for the Fraser Insitute, a Canadian think-tank promoting private sector solutions, Geloso also argues that CEOs are paid for possessing unique skill sets that are increasingly in demand. 

"Today you find CEOs who have a larger share of PhDs and MAs and MSCs and STEMs. So they're in harder sciences and harder domains, so there's greater levels of skill in terms of pure knowledge."

Addressing the gap

Lana Payne, the union leader, thinks governments can help reduce growing inequality. She supports measures such as improving and expanding access to collective bargaining rights for workers, raising the minimum wage and ensuring people have guaranteed hours of work.

 "I think the challenge is that more work needs to be done on a number of fronts to make sure that workers are not falling behind," said Payne, who believes these measures could reduce what she calls the "inequality gap."

Improving and expanding access to collective bargaining rights for workers, improving minimum wages, and making sure people have guaranteed hours of work are some of the things Lana Payne, the national president of Unifor, says could contain what she calls the 'inequality gap.' (CBC News)

The CCPA report also makes several suggestions for reducing the pay gap. The group suggests: introducing higher top marginal tax brackets, removing corporate tax deductability for compensation over $1 million, introducing a wealth tax on the rich and increasing the capital gains inclusion rate (making CEOs pay more taxes on the money they make selling stocks). 

"We've seen the active closure of the stock option deduction in 2021 as well as new higher income tax brackets in 2016. So this is something where we've seen a lot of debate particularly in other areas like a new wealth tax," said Macdonald.

• How has inflation and the high cost of living impacted you? Tell us your story in an email to ask@cbc.ca

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Opinion: Don't blame the boomers for the economy – they put in more than they take - The Globe and Mail

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In this July 3, 2017 file photo, a man and woman walk under trees down a path at Alta Plaza Park in San Francisco.Jeff Chiu/The Associated Press

Thomas Klassen is a professor in the School of Public Policy and Administration at York University.

Born between 1946 and 1965, and now in their late 50s to late 70s, baby boomers comprise nearly one-quarter of Canada’s population. Such a large cohort is bound to have an outsized impact on the economy and society.

During the 1950s and 1960s, suburbs mushroomed to house them, schools were built at breakneck speed to educate them, and the welfare state expanded to provide health care.

As adults, they lead various movements: for equal rights, environmental protection, for greater personal choice and freedom, and much more. Now as older Canadians, they continue to reshape the country.

It’s unfortunate that a typical story has emerged about baby boomers, many retired, that they are ruining the economy, draining government resources and hoarding wealth. This cannot be further from the truth.

Boomers continue to contribute more to the economy than any earlier generation. It is they who pressured governments some years ago to eliminate mandatory retirement at age 65. Today, they are working longer than the generation before them.

The average retirement age has increased by three years over the past two decades. Boomers retire, on average, at 65 with the self-employed working past age 68. Rather than embracing freedom 55, they are keen to keep earning employment income.

Before the boomers, retirement was binary: you’re either working full-time or retired and receiving a pension. Now, retirement is varied, with any number of ways to combine paid employment with pensions.

In some circumstances, a 65-year-old can earn income from full-time employment, receive Canada Pension Plan (CPP) payments, Old Age Security (OAS) payments, and pension benefits from a defined benefit plan while continuing to make further contributions to that same pension plan, as well as contributing to the CPP.

Alternatively, it is possible to retire, but delay receipt of the CPP and OAS to age 70. Or, to work past age 65, but no longer contribute to the CPP but receive OAS.

And contrary to popular belief, boomers in retirement are not huge beneficiaries of government largesse.

OAS payments, which the federal government pays to those 65 and older, require meeting eligibility criteria to receive the full amount: 40 years of residence in Canada, income of less than $82,000 and residence in the country for at least six months each year.

Those meeting these requirements receive $700 a month between ages 65 to 74, and somewhat more starting at age 75. Not meeting these requirements reduces payments or eliminates them altogether.

The Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) – Canada’s basic income for those 65 and older – is paid to people who receive OAS but have little or no other income. The supplement ensures that nearly all those Canadians have annual income of at least $20,900 for a single household.

For the CPP, Ottawa makes no contributions but merely sets the rules. Retirement provides no escape from taxes. All pension income, except GIS, is taxed. The only minor concession for those receiving an employer pension is a $2,000 income-tax credit that slightly reduces tax payable.

Most of the discounts offered to those 65 and older come not from governments, but from private businesses such as movie theaters, retail stores and restaurants. Retirement is a self-funded experience. Those heading for the cottage on Monday mornings, or to sunny destinations for several months in the winter, are doing so entirely from their own money.

Boomers are not draining public health care either. Other than being eligible for pharmacare at age 65, they generally have the same publicly funded health benefits as all other Canadians. If admitted to a nursing home, they must pay between $2,000 to $3,000 a month from their own pockets for accommodation and meals.

Nearly all older Canadians fend for themselves, financially and otherwise. They remain independent, relying on family, friends and neighbours as needed, until death or until they require intensive medical care.

As the oldest baby boomers begin to reach their 80s, most have the financial resources for continued independence. When they die, their remaining wealth will remain in the economy.

In the next several decades, government policies will shift to accommodate a larger percentage of older Canadians. Expect more ramps, elevators, efforts to extend working lives, and measures to increase home and community care services.

Although a small number of retirees will need targeted assistance from the state, there is no conceivable future in which boomers bankrupt governments or wreak havoc on the economy.

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Opinion: Don't blame the boomers for the economy – they put in more than they take - The Globe and Mail
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