Shopify CEO appears to endorse giving more votes to wealthy Canadians

The billionaire CEO of one of Canada’s largest companies has come under fire for seeming to endorse the idea of stripping voting rights from some people and giving more votes to the ultra-wealthy.

On Saturday, Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke replied to a post on X from former TD Bank executive Eric Thor, who suggested an electoral system of “weighted voting proportional to the amount of income tax you pay,” from zero votes for people who don’t pay income tax to five votes for anyone paying $500,000 or more.

Lütke replied, “Good system.”

The comments were part of a thread in which Lütke also proposed stripping voting rights from retirees with pensions, saying in part, “Now you are a dependent and that means no voting, just like dependents under age. Enjoy the deal, let people with a stake in the future decide.”

People expressed shock and anger over Lütke’s comments, calling the voting proposals “disgusting” and “antithetical to democracy,” among less printable insults.

“It’s disturbing that you have the ears of politicians,” one user replied, while another noted that Lütke already exercises enhanced political power as a registered lobbyist.

The Logic reported in March that Shopify was on a “lobbying blitz,” taking more meetings in Ottawa in the first three months of 2026 than in all of 2025.

Lütke, whose Ottawa-based e-commerce platform is worth more than $200 billion, is also involved with Build Canada, an advocacy group including some of Canada’s most high-profile tech leaders. In memos on its website, members advocate for cutting federal spending, prioritizing AI and implementing digital ID, among other topics.

Lütke’s recent posts on X show right-wing political leanings and an affinity for Elon Musk. He stirred controversy last year when he criticized Canada’s retaliation to U.S. tariffs, saying President Donald Trump’s demands to “get the borders under control and crack down on fentanyl dens” were “not crazy.”

‘Destructive to our democracy’

John Beebe, director of the Democratic Engagement Exchange at Toronto Metropolitan University, which aims to boost voter participation, says the comments on voting rights speak to a bigger issue of “incredibly wealthy people feeling like they should be calling all the shots.”

“It really breeds a cynicism out there that is destructive to our democracy, to even suggest that people should not be able to vote based on their income or taxes that they paid,” Beebe told CBC News. “It really speaks to how out of touch folks who have that kind of wealth are with the experience of regular people.”

Beebe says a version of this voter disenfranchisement already happens because many people are turned off by the system, noting that those with lower incomes are less likely to vote than those who are wealthier.

He also says the most affluent and well-connected people already have a bigger say in shaping government policy, through their wealth and donations.

“They have access that the rest of us don’t have,” Beebe said.

CBC News reached out to Shopify for comment but did not hear back by deadline.

Turning back the clock

The voting system Thor and Lütke endorse is not unheard of in Canada, but it would turn the clock back quite a ways.

At the time of Confederation, the only people who could vote were men aged 21 and older who were British subjects by birth or naturalized citizens — and owned property.

These rules “excluded a large majority of the population of Canada from voting,” according to Elections Canada.

Women won the right to vote, provided they met all those conditions, in 1918, but voting rights remained tethered to income and property ownership in Canada until 1920.

It wasn’t until 1948 that all Asian Canadians gained the right to vote, and not until 1960 that all First Nations adults had the right to vote without giving up their Indian status. Prison inmates gained the vote in 2004.

Today, only the chief electoral officer of Canada is not allowed to vote.

Howard Sapers, executive director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, called the weighted voting proposal “outrageous” but cautioned about getting too caught up in “clickbait.”

Sapers said Section 3 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms assures all Canadians citizens aged 18 or older have the right to vote.

“Free and fair elections, along with a free and independent press and an independent judiciary, are the pillars of our democracy,” he said. “This notion that we should limit people’s right to vote is absurd to me. It also violates our Constitution.”