Employment and labour

Many Canadians woke up on Jan. 2 to the sobering news that by the time they'd had their morning coffee and settled into another year of work, the average of Canada's best-paid 100 CEOs had already earned what the rest of us on average will spend all of 2007 trying to make. The CEOs reached this goal by 9:46 a.m. Jan. 2, to be precise. We all know that time is money, but that's a bit rich in this case. For minimum-wage workers, the bad news had arrived much earlier. Just after noon on New Year's Day.

TORONTO - By 12:13 pm on New Year's Day, while many Canadians were still nursing a hangover, Canada"s 100 highest paid CEOs had already pocketed what will take minimum wage workers the rest of 2007 to earn. The clock keeps ticking. By 9:46 am Jan. 2, as most Canadians begin another year of labour, Canada’s 100 highest paid CEOs will have reaped, on average, $38,010 in pay.