The CEO of one of Canada’s largest tech companies is facing criticism after he appeared to endorse the idea of giving the wealthy more voting power than others.
In a series of posts on X over the weekend, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke responded to a post from Eric Thor, a former TD Bank executive, who proposed a system in which voting power would be tied to the amount of income tax a person pays.
The proposal suggested people who pay no income tax would receive no votes, while those paying US$500,000 or more in income taxes annually would receive up to five votes.
“Good system,” Lütke wrote in response.
In another post, Lütke suggested retirees receiving pensions should also lose the right to vote.
“Now you are a dependent and that means no voting, just like dependents under age,” he wrote. “Enjoy the deal, let people with a stake in the future decide.”
Shopify did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Voting proposals ‘anti-democratic’: expert
Dr. Dennis Pilon, a political science professor at York University who studies elections and democracy, said the comments reflect a long-running debate about the influence of wealthy people in politics.
“What we’re seeing now is that they’re coming right out in the open, and saying it,” Pilon said. “And part of the reason they’re able to do that is because they don’t perceive that there’s any threat to them.”
Pilon said wealthy individuals have historically used their influence to shape government policy, often behind the scenes.
“They have acted as lobbyists to get their taxes lowered, to weaken the kind of protections that exist, say, for workers,” he said. “They’ve always done that behind the scenes.”
He added that proposals that tie political power to wealth or financial status reflect an older argument about who should have influence in a democracy.
“This idea that if you don’t have wealth, if you don’t have property, then you don’t have a right to an opinion, that’s just the most classic anti-democratic set of ideas, that have typically been held by the most powerful,” he said.
Wealthy have ‘oversized influence’ in politics: expert
Pilon said the proposal is part of a broader debate about the role of wealthy people in society. While Canada has different safeguards than the United States when it comes to protecting access to the political system, he warned that democratic institutions require continued attention.
“To me, the worrisome thing has always been where this stuff exists in the dark corners and that’s where things like our campaign finance laws allow the wealthy to have oversized influence in our political system,” Pilon said.
Pilon said openly arguing for giving greater political power to wealthy people could be a difficult message to sell politically, noting that many successful populist movements have relied on appealing to voters who feel left behind rather than openly favouring the wealthy.
“I don’t know that there’s a democratic mandate for handing everything over to the rich. I think polling shows that Canadians and people across Western countries don’t like that, don’t respond to it, don’t want it,” Pilon said.
He said that dynamic has also been evident in the rise of populist politicians, including U.S. President Donald Trump, who has attracted support from working-class voters, despite also having backed from wealthy individuals and business leaders.
“A lot of Trump’s success has been speaking to the average person, the left behind, even if his policies don’t actually help them,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. The important thing is that people think that they do.”
Lütke’s past comments on Trump, tariffs
Lütke’s comments are the latest to draw attention to his political views.
Earlier this year, after Trump threatened sweeping tariffs on Canadian imports, Lütke criticized the federal government’s decision to respond with retaliatory tariffs on American goods.
In posts on X, he argued Canada should “work with America together” and said Trump’s calls for Canada to strengthen border security and crack down on fentanyl trafficking were “not crazy demands, even if they came from an unpopular source.”
Shopify, based in Ottawa, is one of Canada’s most valuable publicly traded companies. The e-commerce company trades on both the Toronto Stock Exchange and Nasdaq.
Lütke is ranked No. 302 on Forbes’ 2026 billionaires list, with an estimated net worth of nearly US$11.5 billion.
