One Year of Patriotic Millionaires Canada
This week marked the one year anniversary of Patriotic Millionaires Canada, so I thought I’d use this first blog to reflect on how that year has gone, and where we need to go next.
Back in May of 2025, we launched with an exclusive story in the CBC, accompanied by a series of interviews for TV on CBCNews and radio on Your World Tonight: “These Canadian millionaires are asking for tax increases — but just for themselves”. The message was clear and concise, and our organization was off to the races.
Armed with an in-your-face name and an incredible group of millionaires willing to speak up and speak out, we have grown our organization, chipped away at building a public narrative around wealth, power, and democracy, been a good partner and ally to other advocates, and expanded our movement.
We’ve worked our message into everything from the climate, to grocery prices, to democracy. We’ve co-written pieces with political leaders, and high profile civil society leaders in both English and French.
We’ve appeared on popular Quebec chat shows like Tout le monde en parle, Y'a du monde à messe, and On Va Se Le Dire. A panel of our members were interviewed during the last month of the long running TVO flagship news program The Agenda, and members have been profiled in Macleans and La Presse.
We recruited dozens of Canadian millionaires to call on Finance Minister Champagne to tax the rich in the new government’s first budget, and more to join a global sign on letter from the ultra-rich to World Economic Forum Davos Conference participants.
We’ve written a report on the impact of wealth taxes in G7 nations, displayed key statistics from the report on a panel truck circling the leadership conference, and hosted a parliamentary event in Ottawa on how Canada could use its status as G7 host to be a global leader in fighting inequality.
We have directly challenged conservative economic theory that tax cuts fuel investment or entrepreneurship, reframed the conversation around whether taxes will make wealth flee, and confronted the fact that voluntary overpayment and charity cannot replace a functional tax code.
We’ve gathered members and wealthy peers together for discussions around the country, with more planned for this upcoming year. We’ve hosted parliamentary events in Ottawa with partners like Oxfam Canada, Oxfam Quebec, Canadians for Tax Fairness, Resource Movement, and the Canadian Labour Congress. We’ve partnered with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, BC Society for Policy Solutions, Canada West Forum, Broadbent Institute, and others on exclusive webinars, briefings, and campaigns. We’ve spoken with policy influencers and political leaders at large conferences in Montreal, Toronto, Victoria, and elsewhere.
We’ve engaged the federal government by meeting with members of Parliament and Senators, senior advisors at Finance Canada, and bureaucrats, submitted budget comments, and hosted briefings.
And these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. We’ve given dozens of interviews in French and English for radio, print, podcasts, and TV, and been mentioned in countless more articles and even a recent bestselling book.
So, what will the next year bring?
In just the last month or so, we’ve gotten our social media off the ground. Through regularly posting on platforms like Instagram, Threads, TikTok, Twitter, Bluesky, and LinkedIn, we will have a new outlet to speak directly to people, reach audiences not captured by traditional media, explore new content styles like videos and animations, and partner with influencers.
Which reminds me! Follow us!
We will continue devoting time and resources to build these channels for rapid response, engaging supporters, and continue raising awareness about the threat of extreme wealth inequality.
We’ll be hosting events around the country to take our message directly to wealth holders and grow our movement, with plans already underway for events in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, and Victoria.
We will continue to build up our traditional media presence to build political pressure to tax extreme wealth. We’ve already become the most prominent spokespeople in favor of wealth taxes for Quebec media as they become a factor in that provincial election, and have projects in place for key international moments like the Davos conference, G20, and the World Cup.
So what has year one proved?
Year one proved we can build the megaphone, join with allies, and change the narrative around how the wealthy think about taxes and our economy. We have shown there are plenty of people who understand extreme wealth inequality is in no one's long-term interest, even if they’re on the “winning” side at the moment.
But I’ll be honest, we have a long and tough fight ahead of us. The wealth defense industry is an extremely well funded, well networked, and powerful movement. It is willing to destroy economies, democracies, important institutions like healthcare and education, and our climate in order to ensure not one step is taken to slow the growth of extreme wealth at the expense of everyone else.
But this year has given me a lot of hope. Our movement will continue to grow, we will get louder and bolder, and there’s a lot of things tipping the scales in our favor:
We have the facts on our side.
We have Canadian values on our side.
We’re in the majority.
If you’re reading this, I’m guessing you’ve been a part of growing, sharing, or following this work. I have no delusions that this will be quick or easy, but I am confident we can win.
Thanks for a great year.
Dylan Dusseault is the Executive Director of Patriotic Millionaires Canada
