Raising The Minimum Wage Is Not The Total Answer

Another Mom & Apple Pie time waster by City Council. It is like them voting to make Toronto a Nuclear Free Zone back when Layton was a councilor.

First off, if we are going to raise the minimum wage then let's raise CPP/OAS so seniors are at the same level, then we give minimum wage earners the same benefits as seniors; items the city controls like reduction in property taxes and reduced TTC fares (this is about a $500/yr. savings for everyone working) and then their are the discounts given by retail and entertainment sectors. The additional costs to the city can be offset by reducing the number of councilors, cutting back the salaries and budgets of those councilors, reducing city staff, holding the line on wage increases, contracting out services, etc.

Minimum wage should be $10, council says
Thompson tearful during speech urging council to press province for jump from $8
March 06, 2007
Donovan Vincent
CITY HALL BUREAU

There was a tearful speech, and accusations of party pandering, but after nearly four hours of debate Toronto council voted to press Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty to hike the province's minimum wage to $10.

The vote was part of a large anti-poverty package approved 37-5 by politicians at city hall that included calls for other measures such as increased welfare rates so poor families can buy nutritious meals.

Dr. David McKeown, the city's medical officer of health, has also been asked to look into the state of basic dental care among Toronto's children, given growing concern about the health of poor children's teeth.

In supporting the minimum wage hike – the current rate is $8 an hour – council was endorsing a call put forward by McKeown as well as Councillors Michael Walker and Michael Thompson.

In a speech that moved him to tears, Thompson said it's incumbent that society provide the basics for people to survive.

"You look at the number of young black kids getting killed in the city and ask why are they doing this. A lot of it comes from the fact their parents are not able to assist them in providing ... a solid education, because they themselves don't make enough to afford the basic needs for their children,'' Thompson said.

Sorry Mike....I see a lot of black kids working at fast food joints and the big box stores and their parents working two jobs to put a roof over their heads and food on the table and some of the other NECESSITIES while they ensure their kids take full advantage of the FREE education opportunities. It is an insult to the majority of blacks that are making an effort to equate street violence to economics. If "poverty" is the major cause we would have major chaos on our streets 24/7.

"This city needs to recognize there are a lot of people who are in need,'' he said.

"There's no way anyone can live on $8 an hour,'' said Councillor Frances Nunziata.

Councillor Shelley Carroll said that even if a person worked two full-time jobs, of 37 hours a week each, earning $10 an hour they would take home only $38,000, compared with less than $31,000 a year working the same number of hours at $8 an hour.

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