The Financial Post reports in its Saturday edition that a week ago, 40 American billionaires announced they would willingly part with at least half of their fortunes to charity. The Post's Dana Lacey writes the sudden philanthropic surge is credited to a campaign launched by famous givers Bill Gates and Warren Buffett. The duo challenged hundreds of U.S. billionaires to publicly state they would give away most of their wealth during their lifetime. The billionaires came from a variety of industries, from New York mayor Michael Bloomberg to hotel magnate Barron Hilton to filmmaker George Lucas to dozens of leaders from the financial services world. The generosity movement could hit Canada, says Marvi Ricker, vice-president of philanthropic services at Bank of Montreal. "We have plenty of high-profile billionaires. Just walk around Toronto and look at the names on hospital wings, art galleries and museums." In Canada, a few names top the rich lists year after year, and are billionaires two or three times over. They included David Thomson, Galen Weston, the Irving brothers, Paul Desmarais, Guy LaLiberte, Bernard Sherman, Jim Pattison, Peter Munk and Michael Lee-Chin, to name but a few.