TIM BELFORD

Meet Canada's rich folks, and really rich folks

I'm not sure if the editors at Canadian Business Magazine had their collective tongues firmly in their cheeks or not, but to come out with a list of the top 100 wealthiest Canadians three weeks before Christmas is a nice touch.

Whether or not Ken Thomson is given to muttering "Bah, humbug!" is irrelevant.

Just the fact that his personal wealth is about the same as the province of Saskatchewan would make him great fodder for a Dickens novel.

Anybody who's worth more than the Alberta Heritage Fund surely has a place in Canadian literature.

Thomson, by the way, is worth a cool $22.03 billion -- give or take a loonie.

Then there's Number Two in the Canadian Croesus stakes, Galen Weston.

Here's a guy who makes his big bucks in the bakery business. And his net worth -- $8.67 billion -- surely gives new meaning to the term "bread".

Strangely enough, it's the same business that has resulted in a slight decline in his overall wealth.

I guess you could call it the "carb crash." it seems the Atkins Diet craze has reduced more than Canadian waist lines.

And you don't have to live in Toronto to be mega-rich.

The three Irving brothers, of New Brunswick - Gassy, Greasey, and Oily - still rank forth in filthy family lucre even though the province they own has one of the highest rates of unemployment and the lowest incomes in the country.

There were losers though.

The Irvings' neighbours, the Harrison McCain family, whose pizzas and fries have fattened the nation, saw their net worth drop by 23 percent leaving them with barely a billion and a half left.

Time to pass the hat in Florenceville.

Nor does it pay to be right, at least not politically.

The Asper family, owners of the National Post, saw their wealth drop to a mere $1.09 billion, probably because of Diane Francis' salary.

The question I have to ask is: Why are any of these people still working?

Surely after the first hundred or so million you've got enough to live on.

How much fun can there be in setting up one more gas station or selling another tin of short bread?

And by the way, when was the last time our Canadian Ebenezers set up a foundation to fight aids a la Bill Gates?

I know, you're saying this is nothing more than outright envy and you're probably right.

But then again, at least I won't be visited by the Ghost of Past, Present, or Future come Christmas Eve.