"the first wife could ask for a divorce if she objected to her hubby having a 2nd wife...which is what wives do now when hubby has girlfriend...the rich and the powerful have always had more than thier share of multiple women that isn't anything new and it hasn't destablized our society..."
You have an interesting way of framing the issue in relating the mores of the cult to that of society at large. If I am not mistaken in Canada a divorce can be proceeded with by either gender and in some cases via joint application. Both bigamy and polygamy are currently prohibited in Canadian law and the desire to denote extra-marital relationships as being that of husband and wife is a misnomer.
Whatever the shortcomings and permissiveness of the modern day society may be there is no comparison between the degree of control exercised within the cult by the likes of Blackmore and Osler in Bountiful, B.C. and those of these rich guys you speak of. Secondly I am wondering if these rich guys you refer to routinely have sex with minors.
What does destabilize our society is the exploitation of children and that is an issue, aside from polygamy, that needs to be addressed.
Here is a book which may be instructive to the issues at hand. "The Secret Lives of Saints: Child Brides and Lost Boys in a Polygamous Mormon Sect" [Hardcover]
Daphne Bramham (Author)