So I’ve seen Jason calling for the 10$ an hr minimum wage to be rejected by Ontarions, and a lot of debate (and some of it rather heated) in response. It was intended as a broadside against the provincial NDP who called for it, but as Jason noted, the Toronto Star editorial board has endorsed it, (but from what I read, the Star endorsed it prior to the NDP calling for it).
I’m not going to get into overheated rhetoric here (I reject the charge that Jason and others are “sexist” for opposing this) but I’ll go at this from a personal angle.
Before I was let go in August from my last job, I was a salaried employee making roughly about $10.13/hr. I live in a small town of 11 000 people. I pay 325$ a month in rent (utilities extra), and I’m single, with only a cat to worry about supporting at the moment. I dont have a license to drive (by personal choice), so I dont have car payments or gasoline to worry about. I had a student loan from University that I had to worry about paying off by monthly deductions for most of the time I was working as well.
I was able to get by because of my current situation and where I live. I can flatly state that for people living in the bigger cities with higher rents and other payments they need to worry about, plus supporting a family, 10$ an hr would be a hard go to get by on.. so I can only imagine what people currently are doing now who are only at minimum wage.
Quite frankly, it infuriates me when I see that the minimum wage earner in Canada makes 16000/yr (close to the poverty line, if not below it), and we have the Top 100 executives in Canada making 38 000 by 9am, but as Jacob over at his blog says:
In terms of CEO salaries, I often hear people speak in terms of “what the market will bear”. When it comes to increasing minimum wage, I often hear people speak of fear that the market might suffer. Surely, there is a position between these two extremes which would better serve us in setting all wages in our economy.
I believe that a minimum wage is set to ensure 2 things - that employers can’t take advantage of people, particularly those who are immigrants or those who are desperate enough to do jobs other people will not - and as the Star does, to guarantee everyone who works has a tolerable standard of living. The current minimum wage does not allow for that, so raising it to 10$ an hr certainly has the support of this social-reform minded liberal/Liberal. Being slightly above most of the US State’s minimum wage (which seems to be our standard up here - if its higher then the US, we’re a better place to live in, without us ever bothering to look at the rest of the Western industrialized democracies) isn’t good enough - not for me anyhow.
The Star also points out some other good things are needed besides this if we want to eliminate poverty in Canada, and I encourage you to read their list of additional things they have proposed. A party that wanted to base its appeal on being seen as believing in social justice and social fairness would do well to propose most (if not all) of what the Star proposes.
I was a salaried employee making roughly about $10.13 a week.
Where do you work, China?
I can flatly state that for people living in the bigger cities with higher rents and other payments
Actually that’s a fallacy. As someone who was a landlord in both the big city of Toronto and the small town of Huntsville, I can attest to the fact that rents are pretty comparable. About the only difference is that in Toronto you won’t get the same quality of accomodation for your money.
As to other expenses, I never noticed a difference when I moved to Huntsville.