The NDP seeing the traction that the fifteen dollar minimum wage is getting in the US has made it part of their platform.
“NDP Leader Tom Mulcair says he will put the idea of a $15 an hour minimum wage to a vote in Parliament when it resumes next week.
“Household debt in Canada is skyrocketing right now, families are having more and more trouble getting by. The good middle class jobs that people used to be able to rely on just aren’t there any more,” Mulcair said, speaking in Vancouver on Saturday.”
It is time to start distributing the profits a little more equally here in Canada, and raising the minimum wage is great place to start.
bleatmop
Mystro
Dead Wild Roses 
11 comments
September 18, 2014 at 6:16 am
roughseasinthemed
It’s also a great way to encourage black workers and unscrupulous employers to cut the rate.
Don’t get me wrong, I support minimum wages, but it would be really good if governments followed through and actually enforced it.
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September 18, 2014 at 7:11 am
Deb
As this is occurring right up the road from me in Seattle I am seeing the struggle firsthand. It’s been a back and forth, give and take, concessions on both sides sort of thing. I am definitely in favor of a higher minimum wage, but with age appropriate considerations. I have some difficulty with a 16 year old, first time employee at McDonalds making the same wage as the 24 year old, newly single mom who is working the counter as her second job to feed her kids. I think there will be a lot to work through to get equitable standards passed.
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September 18, 2014 at 9:53 am
syrbal-labrys
So, imagine America…which doesn’t have a national minimum wage anywhere NEAR that high!
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September 18, 2014 at 9:55 am
syrbal-labrys
The trouble with telling a 16 year old they can’t have the same pay is that someone else will happily tell any married woman SHE can’t have the same pay because she has a working husband. And me? When I was 16? I was working (for 65 cents plus tips per hour) and my money was going into household coffers.
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September 18, 2014 at 10:07 am
The Arbourist
@RSITM
Our current government won’t touch the minimum wage, but I do suspect that if the NDP gets in they would. They are the same party that brought socialized medicine to Canada – despite the huge protestations of the business class and elite.
So I am hopeful if they get in. :>
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September 18, 2014 at 10:27 am
The Arbourist
@Deb
As Syrbal illustrated, as soon as one starts qualifying which workers should get “X” level of minimum wage then problems start.
The minimum wage, in my opinion, is where everyone should start. It is a ‘hard floor’ there should be no exceptions. The only direction negotiations over rate of pay can go would be up.
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September 18, 2014 at 10:39 am
roughseasinthemed
@ The Arb and Deb
Why should two people doing the same job, get differential pay rates? Is it the problem of the 16-yr-old that someone is a single mother? We aren’t talking apprentice-based skills here, this is McDonalds, which is hardly McEthics in the first place.
Now, if someone has relevant skills, eg catering qualifications, or waiting quals, then I think that is a different matter. But my needs are greater than someone else’s so I get more pay? That flies in the face of all labour and payment ethics.
There is a minimum wage where we are. There are, depending on the type of contract you sign, separate trade rates. So, why would one tradesperson get a higher rate than another?
Any bonus payments should be set according to level of skill and appropriate qualifications, and years of experience. But not because they ‘need’ the money more.
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September 18, 2014 at 5:53 pm
Rob F
AFAIK, the constitution is interpreted as indication that minimum wage laws are under provincial jurisdiction. So, sorry, for the most part, a federal minimum wage is no-go; the courts will strike it down as ultra vires.
Hence, a federal minimum wage would only be doable in the territories and in industries under federal jurisdiction.
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September 19, 2014 at 1:19 pm
The Arbourist
@RSITM
Perhaps I was unclear, but my sentiments are in line with yours with regards to the minimum wage issue. :)
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September 19, 2014 at 3:13 pm
VR Kaine
An interesting experiment would be to put a “net % profit” sign up in the front window like many US restaurants have to do with their sanitation score. Many will complain about how prices will go up due to a higher minimum wage, yet let’s see how forthcoming they’d be about how much their margins actually shrunk, if at all.
I know there’s a lot of theory vs. practical in that but just saying it would be interesting. Personally, in the example of restaurants for instance, I can’t see a table caring if they paid $60 for their meal plus tip rather than $70 without – people who can afford it are still going to eat out because either a) it’s an occasion, or b) they don’t want to cook.
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September 19, 2014 at 3:18 pm
roughseasinthemed
You weren’t, I was agreeing with you and disagreeing with Deb. Culpa mea. Sorry for my incoherence.
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