Another post about minimum wage

A great article appeared in the Toronto Star today regarding the New Democrats bill to raise minimum wage to $10/hr. The Liberal government, on the other hand, has just announced a 3.2% increase (which is roughly inflation), bringing minimum wage to $8/hr.

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo provides some valuable insight into the reasons why minimum wgae ought to be increased to something near a living wage, noting "Over two-thirds of those [on minimum wage] are women, many of them with children ... and a lot of them are immigrants," adding "We have 13,500 children using food banks in Toronto." Remember when Canadian politicians vowed to iradicate child poverty by the year 2000? Furthermore, is it any surprise that women still earn less than men? I believe the figure is about $0.76 for every dollar a man earns. But wait, didn't the federal Conservatives slash funding for the Status of Women commitee by $5 million? Perhaps that decision ought to be re-examined.

Of course, the neo-conservative CFIB added that "No one disputes the fact about minimum wage but by increasing the number, you are going to increase salary expectations of everyone else and so you have a structural increase in wage that's going to further put pressure on the business." Geez, that's too bad. Working people want to make more money. Well, working people deserve more money.