Minimum Wage in Ontario: Last raise for a while, not the last post

Congrats to Ontario's 200 000 minimum wage earners. In an hour-and-half's time, you'll get a wage increase of $0.25 cents, and be making an astounding $8/hr. In this story, readers are told that Ontario's minimum wage workers shouldn't be expecting another increase to the minimum wage anytime soon. However this certainly won't be my last post about the topic, and hopefully this issue will continue to receive some media attention, perhaps even carrying on into this fall's provincial elections. So, in the mean time, minimum wage earners can look forward to making less than a living wage, and see any modest increases they've received over the past four years be quickly eaten up by inflation. Even Conservative leader John Tory has taken a more progressive stance on this issue than what the Liberals have. Yet, somehow the Liberals are still seen as a 'leftist' party.

Many activists, including myself, strongly support a minimum wage of $10/hr. “You cannot pay the rent... put food on the table... look after your family working for minimum wage. We need at least a $10-an-hour minimum wage for people to be able to do that," stated the NDP Howard Hampton. This needs to be the immediate goal.

Frank Reid, a University of Toronto economics professor, said the economic impact of such a hike (to $10/hr)would probaby be passed on to consumers, who would, in turn, accept a modest increase in prices. “I think Canadian society would think it’s inappropriate...If someone’s working 40 hours a week... you’re making about $15,000 a year, which is probably below most people’s estimate of the poverty line.”

While Reid's assumption is likely correct, the increase to workers wages really ought to be coming out of the enormous profits made by minimum wage employers. This sort of rational is what makes a number of people complain about wage increases (especially for unionized employees), stating that these are destructive because they become a zero-sum game. One entity wins wage gains, while 'the rest of us' lose out. I do believe that wage increases should be a zero-sum game, but one in which workers see their wages rise, and capitalists see their profits fall, until they cease to exist.