Quebec has 27 billionaire families while median household wealth trails Ontario and BC
The province's wealthiest 1% control nearly a quarter of all wealth, but top fortunes lag other provinces—a gap explained largely by housing costs.
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Quebec is home to an estimated 27 billionaire families controlling 24.6% of provincial wealth—the second-highest concentration in Canada behind Alberta, according to a recent report by Canadians for Tax Fairness.
The province also hosts roughly 590 families worth more than $100 million and close to 20,000 worth more than $10 million. Only Ontario, with 38 billionaire families, ranks higher in absolute numbers.
The largest of these fortunes belong to names most Quebecers recognize. The Desmarais family, the power behind Power Corporation of Canada, tops the list with combined wealth estimated at $12.7 billion—the tenth-richest family in the country. The Saputo family, which made its money in dairy and sports franchises like CF Montréal and Bologna FC, holds around $5.9 billion. Jean Coutu's family, whose pharmacies are fixtures throughout the province, is worth roughly $3.7 billion.
Yet Quebec's ranking at the top obscures a wider wealth disparity at the bottom. The wealthiest 0.01% of Quebec families hold around $408 million each. The bottom half of the province holds about $89,000.
Quebec's high concentration of wealth relative to other provinces has less to do with billionaires than with housing. In provinces like Ontario and British Columbia, where real estate is expensive and ownership rates are high, homeownership pushes median family net worth upward. Quebec, where more people rent, has the opposite outcome. The median Quebec family holds $286,000 in wealth, compared to $500,000 in Ontario and $632,000 in British Columbia. When the middle holds less, the share sitting at the top grows by comparison, even when the fortunes themselves are smaller.
