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The Sunshine list and wealth disparity

The Sunshine list and wealth disparity


As stolen from thevarsity.ca

Every year the entire province loses its collective mind over the Sunshine List. Mike Harris started this yearly denigration-fest of public servants in 1996 and since then other provinces have followed suit. The idea was to publish the names and occupations of everyone who made over $100000 a year from the public coffers. It kept with Harris’ goal to slash and privatize as much of Ontario’s social services as possible and so naming and shaming was part of the propaganda process of that endeavour.

So for the past 30 years the Sunshine List has been a mainstay in Ontario political drama and quite frankly, it’s absolutely bonkers to me. The glaringly obvious issue of privacy aside[1], that $100000 threshold hasn’t changed in 30 years. Meanwhile, the BoC inflation calculator says your would need almost $188300 to buy the same amount of stuff that $100000 would buy you in 1996. In Toronto – where most of these high salaries are concentrated – the average price of a home was $198000 in 1996 compared to $1.5 million at the end of 2025. So to put it another way, even if you and your partner both cleared the Sunshine List with a combined income of $200000 and had no debt AND you had a 20% down payment, you probably still couldn’t afford to own a house in Toronto[2]. In my city, the average price is $886000, which would still leave a couple short about $8000 to purchase a home. $100000 just ain’t what it used to be!

I don’t want to leave anyone with the impression that I *don’t* think $100000 is a good salary – because it is! It’s just interesting to compare it to what that money will buy you now in 2026. If we don’t look at things in context, we miss the point completely. It’s also worth noting that in 1996 the minimum wage was $6.45/h and now it is $17.60/h. So the jump from a $12578 yearly salary to a $34320 salary is more than double in 30 years. Also, that makes the Sunshine List even more out of touch as it used to be almost 8x a minimum wage salary and now it’s more like 2.9x. We can argue that the current minimum wage is still untenable in most major cities but still, that disparity is telling.

Speaking of disparity, I came across this NYT article aptly titled, “How Can America Be So Miserable When It’s So Rich?” and it basically reflected back to me something I’ve been thinking for awhile. People love to throw around how some countries in Europe are on par with the poorest of US states and how Canada has the same economy as Alabama’s. GDP is a terrible measure of the health of an economy when most of the money is flowing upwards to the richest members of a society. That is why Kyla Scanlon’s Vibecession caught on: people feel poorer. They feel poorer because 49.7% of all spending is done by the top 10% of people in the US. So naturally the economy swings to cater to the needs and whims of those folks.

One of the reasons I think nostalgia has been such a hot political button to push is because people are nostalgic for when wealth was more concentrated in the middle and there were less extremes. Add this to the absolute gong show known as social media where you can follow a DITL of a Saudi Prince or a Super Model in unlimited reels constantly streamed straight to your brain and you are going to feel, well, a little poor. We used to compare ourselves to our neighbours, not we compare ourselves to everyone in the world. No wonder we feel miserable.

When my friend Judy told me she was moving to Canada and wondered if her new salary would be good to live on, I told her yes. Even though she currently makes what we would think is a great salary, she also currently lives in an area with a lot of ridiculously rich people. When she moves, things will be similarly expensive compared to what she makes but the wealth disparity will be less. We don’t have the kinds of extreme wealth that the Bay area does and many salaries are clustered around the middle. Yes, day-to-day things will be more expensive but houses won’t cost $10M and even though my friends earn wildly different salaries, we all have access to a pretty decent life and social infrastructure. Besides, she isn’t a person who is prone to social comparison and overspending. I think that she’ll adjust more to the financials than she will the winters.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t legitimate concerns about wealth disparity and there will always be folks on either end of the economic spectrum. But looking for scapegoats for political clout in the doctor who runs a major hospital in a large urban area ain’t it. Hilariously, it looks like it’s come back to bite them in the arse: Doug Ford got himself a sweet $60K+ raise last year and his daughter has seen her salary grow more than 34% as well, which is pretty great for someone without the education and the experience for that position. Oops!

[1] PRO TIP: Public Servants don’t actually have a right to privacy, which is interesting in itself. You could theoretically create an ATIP request for the entire contents of someone’s email. Remember kids, delete all non-business related email daily!

[2] $1.5M – $300000 = $1.2M purchase price. Banks generally will finance 3.5X your salary, minus your debts. So our theoretical couple could only finance $700000.

What does money matter?

What does money matter?

I love the BBC Archive channel and I have posted videos from there before. There is always a fascinating array of videos from the past and while not all of them are of interest to me, there are always a few here and there that pique my interest. I loved this one comparing the lives of two Glasweigian women in 1974 and the stark differences between what it means to have money and to not have money.

I absolutely love that the top comment is from Ina’s son:

For all the comments asking about Ina and what happened to her…

At the time of filming in early 1974, she was living with her parents in Barlanark, Glasgow. She married her boyfriend Jim in 1975 and the had 2 children – a son born in 1977 and a daughter born in 1980.

In 1983, she got her dream home, a new build semi-detached with front, back and side gardens. She said that moving into that house was a dream and it was like being on a caravan holiday as the children could go out to play and the garden was only a few steps away – she had spent her entire life living in flats until then. She was always waiting for the “caravan owner” to come back for his keys! That never happened, as Ina lived there for the rest of her life and Jim still lives there to this day.

Along with the house, those gardens were her pride and joy (after her children) and she spent a lot of her free time planting flowers and cutting the grass. The side garden was on a corner and she loved speaking to neighbours who walked by admiring her (and Jim’s) hard work.

She left the factory job and found her calling in elderly care, she had such a big heart and loved to look after people. Ina & Jim went on to have a good life together, they worked hard, had a lovely home and enjoyed going on holidays.

Friends and family tried to get hold of this footage around Ina’s 40th birthday but were told it had been destroyed.

As you see in the programme, she loved knitting and enjoyed it throughout her life. In her later years she spent a lot of her time knitting hats, mittens and bootees for new born babies that she donated to Princess Royal Maternity in Glasgow.

In later life, Ina had 3 grandchildren who she adored…..and she loved nothing better than playing with them in her back garden.

Ina passed away in May 2020 during the first COVID lockdown, and all the restrictions that came with that meant only 20 people could be at her funeral – there would have been hundreds there in “normal” times. Her ashes are buried in her beloved back garden.

How do I know all of this? I’m her son, Paul – my sister Dawn and I have watched this video on repeat in the last few days since we became aware of it. We visited my dad and watched it together, including the grandchildren…..not a dry eye in the house (Ina’s house!) and my dad let us into a few secrets around the filming of the programmes.

We are all so proud of my mum, where she came from, the life she carved out for herself and the start she gave us all in life.

Someone else did some digging and found this on Valerie:

“Valli” was the nom de course of Valerie Stack, a 1970s saloon racer, and Biba model, who managed to claim some good race finishes and a string of lap records too. She raced between 1975 and 1977, driving an MG Midget, Lotus Europa and Triumph TR7 with Biba sponsorship.

Her name first became known in motorsport circles in 1975, for reasons not related to her on-track performance. She was photographed sunbathing topless at Mallory Park, and the pictures were published in the British motoring press. Valli was already working as a model, and at that time, was in a relationship with racer and track owner, Chris Meek. He encouraged her to drive one of his racing cars, and her first track appearance was more of a modelling assignment than a race, just doing some demonstration laps in an MG Midget. Meek saw that she took to the car quite well, and offered her some actual racing, in the Midget. Despite having few ambitions in that direction, she decided to give it a go, and entered the BRSCC Production Sports Car Championship. Her early races were hard work, and some ended in spins, but she was soon picking up class awards, including two at Croft. Biba, the fashion label for which she had modelled, was the main sponsor of her MG Midget, which carried a striking black and gold livery.

Away from motorsport, Valli’s professional life took a different direction in 1976. She moved away from modelling and into music production, working alongside her future husband, Emile Ford, and producing one of his albums. Her relationship with Chris Meek must have been over by then, but he continued to support her in her racing activities. She was active in Production Sports Cars again in 1976, and was one of the leading drivers in her class. She set lap records for production sports cars worth £2000 and under at Brands Hatch, Aintree, Castle Combe, Rufforth and Ingliston.

The BWRDC gave her their award for the most successful woman driver in 1976, as well as its Best Newcomer title.

In 1977, she raced a Triumph TR7 in Production Sports, also owned by Meek and sponsored by Biba. She came second in at least one race, at her favoured circuit of Croft. At some point, she raced a Lotus Europa, again owned by Meek, part of a two-car team with him, but no results are forthcoming.

That year, her name was linked to a Land Speed Record project, Blue Star, led by Dave Gossling. Valli was said to be considering an attempt on Lee Breedlove’s women’s record, by no less than Motor Sport magazine. Drag racer Tony Densham and Formula One driver, David Purley, were linked to the project too, but it never came to fruition, as Dave Gossling was killed in an accident before the car was even built.

Valli retired from motorsport after 1977, following her marriage to Emile Ford and subsequent pregnancy. She is rather an obscure figure now, although she is remembered fondly by some motor racing fans who saw her in action.

She died in 2018, aged 65.