By Hugh McKenna

Many of Canada’s wealthiest people have actually seen their fortunes shrink in the past year

For once it wasn’t a case of the rich getting richer.

According to the latest edition of Canadian Business magazine, many of Canada’s wealthiest people have actually seen their fortunes shrink in the past year.

But none of the leading names on the Top 100 list is exactly claiming poverty either, including the perennial top finisher, Toronto’s Thomson family whose wealth shrank an estimated 8.7% from 2010.

Canadian Business estimates the Thomson family fortune currently stands at $21.34 billion.

Also a little worse off this year is No. 2 on the list, supermarket magnate Galen Weston with an estimated worth of $8 billion, down 5.8%, and the Rogers family of cable TV and cellphone fame. It came in No. 4 with a fortune that was down 1.3% at $5.94 billion.

Doing a little better year-over year was the Irving family of Saint John, N.B., up 4.5% at 7.8 billion and No. 3 on the list, and Vancouver’s Jim Pattison, No. 5 at $5.73 billion, up 3.7%.

All of those in the top five maintained the same rankings they enjoyed in 2010.

Meanwhile, the estimated fortune of the Saputo family of Montreal grew a whopping 23.5% to $4.34 billion, good for sixth place overall, up from ninth spot last year.

That was just ahead of Power Corp.’s (TSX:POW) Paul Desmarais Sr., 84, who dropped from sixth to seventh in the rankings with an estimated worth of $4.27 billion, down 0.2%.

In the No. 8 spot was eBay’s Jeff Skoll, 46, of Palo Alto, Calif., at $3.75 billion, up 5.3%.

Rounding out the Top 10 were mining, energy and real estate magnates Fred Mannix, 69, and Ron Mannix, 63, of Calgary, in ninth place at $3.44 billion, up 8.3%, and Bernard Sherman, 69 of Toronto, chairman and CEO of generic drug manufacturer Apotex, down 16% at $3.31 billion. He dropped three spots from seventh place last year.

Other notables included Lululemon Athletica founder Chip Wilson, who soared into in 15th spot from 49th a year ago as his estimated net worth increased 128% to $2.85 billion, and Magna International Inc. founder Frank Stronach, up seven places in 19th spot with a 38.3% increase in net worth to $2.7 billion.