Top 5 richest people in B.C.

$7.39 billion 
Age: 85 
Jim Pattison group

B.C.’s richest man—who owes his fortune to a collection of unconnected companies that include Overwaitea supermarket group, Ocean Brands seafood and News Group wholesaling—has started to expand his car dealership empire outside of his West Coast stomping grounds. (He now owns three dealerships in Winnipeg and one in Waterloo.) But it’s in Toronto where he’s really creating a splash: Ripley’s Entertainment, another Pattison-owned venture, has just opened a 135,000-square-foot aquarium next to the CN Tower. The opening of the new attraction was overseen by Pattison’s son, Jim Jr., president of Ripley Entertainment. He’s considered a possible—though unconfirmed—heir to the family empire.