Kathleen Wynne plays the Trump card, announces $15 minimum wage by 2019!

[H10]

Given that most jobs in Ontario are minimum wage low paying jobs, and the province's business class greediness has caused them to push wages down to nothing for most people, there is a large class of under 40 workers working min wage retail jobs.  $15 min wage will basically guarantee Wynns re-election while knocking the sails out of the NDP far left and putting the conservative in a bind where they will have to argue why poor people don't deserve $2 an hour wage increase while they voted for tens of thousands of dollars in wages for themselves and favoring large payouts for large CEO and business directors.

 

Like it or not, she is clever politician and this basically ensure Wynn will win the masses of voters who are working in $11 an hour retail, restaurant, hotel, etc jobs.  The conservative party is in real trouble provincially.

[Argus]

1 minute ago, hernanday said:

Given that most jobs in Ontario are minimum wage low paying jobs,

If you believe 30% is 'most'. 

1 minute ago, hernanday said:

and the province's business class greediness has caused them to push wages down to nothing for most people,

If you believe $11.50 an hour is 'nothing'.

1 minute ago, hernanday said:

there is a large class of under 40 workers working min wage retail jobs.  $15 min wage will basically guarantee Wynns re-election while knocking the sails out of the NDP far left and putting the conservative in a bind where they will have to argue why poor people don't deserve $2 an hour wage increase

Why would 'deserve' have any place in such a discussion? No one deserves any wage other than what they can command because of their competence, skills and education.

Ontario manufacturing facilities are abandoning the province due to high costs here. They're moving to the US, where taxes are lower, electricity costs are lower, the bureaucracy is less binding, and there are already lower wages. This will simply accelerate that process. Other business will accelerate their movement to automation, especially in the service industry. Unemployment will rise.

 

[H10]

5 minutes ago, Argus said:

If you believe 30% is 'most'. 

We will agree to disagree, there are far more min wage workers than 30% in Ontario.

5 minutes ago, Argus said:

If you believe $11.50 an hour is 'nothing'.

It is.

5 minutes ago, Argus said:

Why would 'deserve' have any place in such a discussion? No one deserves any wage other than what they can command because of their competence, skills and education.

I agree, and $15 is that amount.  No government subsidies for businesses who cannot afford to employ workers.

 

5 minutes ago, Argus said:

Ontario manufacturing facilities are abandoning the province due to high costs here. They're moving to the US, where taxes are lower, electricity costs are lower, the bureaucracy is less binding, and there are already lower wages. This will simply accelerate that process. Other business will accelerate their movement to automation, especially in the service industry. Unemployment will rise.

 

We cannot have a race to the bottom, most countries like China and India have lower cost and low labor and lower electric and heat. It is better to have unemployment, than a large class of working poor people who are working but cannot even afford a basic living.

[bush_cheney2004]

Wynne made comparisons to U.S. cities that are moving to a $15 minimum wage, but that is in U.S. dollars.

Quote

"Although we've done a good job in tying the increases in the minimum wage to the cost of living, I think we have to look at a jump up at this point," Wynne said. "We are in competition with New York, we're in competition with San Francisco. Those are jurisdictions that are moving to a $15 minimum wage."

 

So is Wynne's vote buying strategy in USD or CAD ?  

[-1=e^ipi]

Universal Basic Income is preferable for minimum wage. Minimum wage should be abolished in favour of Universal Basic Income.
 

1 hour ago, hernanday said:

Like it or not, she is clever politician and this basically ensure Wynn will win the masses of voters who are working in $11 an hour retail, restaurant, hotel, etc jobs.

Yes, because it's not like any of these people will become unemployed or have less hours due to such a policy...

[Wilber]

Last November, 60% of voters in Washington State voted to increase the minimum wage to $11.50 USD ($15:84 CAD) by 2020 and one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked starting in 2018.

[andromeda]

i'm a conservative who agrees with the $15 minimum wage.   but if wynne is that concerned about minimum wage workers ....  what's stopping her from implementing it right now?    or is it just another crass attempt by a government that's down in the polls,  short on ideas, and will do anything to hold on to power for another term?

[Argus]

1 hour ago, Wilber said:

Last November, 60% of voters in Washington State voted to increase the minimum wage to $11.50 USD ($15:84 CAD) by 2020 and one hour of paid sick leave for every 40 hours worked starting in 2018.

And why wouldn't they? Voters will almost always vote to take money away from other people and give it to themselves. The problem is those other people are free to move their businesses elsewhere.

[Argus]

58 minutes ago, andromeda said:

i'm a conservative who agrees with the $15 minimum wage.

Why? Why not a $20 minimum wage? Or a $50 minimum wage?

[Moonlight Graham]

4 hours ago, hernanday said:

We cannot have a race to the bottom, most countries like China and India have lower cost and low labor and lower electric and heat. It is better to have unemployment, than a large class of working poor people who are working but cannot even afford a basic living.

Capitalism is a race to the bottom, for better or worse. We live in a global economy, not in a bubble. What this will do is make more jobs go overseas (or to other provinces) or to illegal immigrants or to automated machines.

It's going to be $14 in January, just in time for the election of course.  Enough to see the short term but not the long term effects of such a drastic jump many small businesses won't be able to absorb.  The rollout for this is way too quick.

And no, actually it's better to have a job that pays mediocre than to have no job.

[Hal 9000]

This isn't just about minimum wage.  As Boges mentioned in his status update, there are people already making 11-15$ per hour, what about them?  "I've gone to trade school, I'm in a construction job, I'm an apprentice...and now i'm making minimum wage - the same as the teenage barista or burger flipper".  Of course, they'll need raises too in order to attract workers.  What about the lab techs, E.A's, janitors - the CUPE people who are making 20-21$?  You don't think CUPE is gonna jump all over the government insisting that their workers deserve more than 5$ per hour than a Tim's employee?  A waitress getting minimum wage can also get big tips, so now we are gonna have to tip a poor young girl making $250-300 per day - while restaurant prices will surely spike.  We'll actually end up with teenage waitresses making more than some adult people with full education and/or risking life and health every day.

[Hal 9000]

...and lets not stop there, if you think that giving a mandatory 30% raise to minimum wage workers won't affect the welfare and disability people, think again.  Cost of living increases will mean a raise for all of them too.  

[sharkman]

58 minutes ago, Moonlight Graham said:

Capitalism is a race to the bottom, for better or worse. We live in a global economy, not in a bubble. What this will do is make more jobs go overseas (or to other provinces) or to illegal immigrants or to automated machines.

It's going to be $14 in January, just in time for the election of course.  Enough to see the short term but not the long term effects of such a drastic jump many small businesses won't be able to absorb.  The rollout for this is way too quick.

And no, actually it's better to have a job that pays mediocre than to have no job.

But we don't really have capitalism in Canada.

[Hal 9000]

16 minutes ago, sharkman said:

But we don't really have capitalism in Canada.

No, we're slipping further and further into socialism...this should move us ever closer.

[Wilber]

2 hours ago, Argus said:

And why wouldn't they? Voters will almost always vote to take money away from other people and give it to themselves. The problem is those other people are free to move their businesses elsewhere.

I was wrong, they voted to increase the minimum wage to $13.50 ($18.20CAD) by 2020. I don't think 60% of Washington voters are minimum wage earners. King County, home of Boeing, Microsoft, etc voted 72% in favour.

[bush_cheney2004]

The percentage of U.S. workers earning the federal or state mandated hourly minimum wage is very small (about 6% and much lower for many states...like Washignton).   Wynne's reference to U.S. cities is curious given this reality and is purely political.

If raising the minimum wage to $15 CAD in Ontario is a politically calculated move to gain votes from minimum wage workers/families, is the percentage of such workers much higher in Ontario ?  

[Argus]

17 hours ago, Wilber said:

I was wrong, they voted to increase the minimum wage to $13.50 ($18.20CAD) by 2020. I don't think 60% of Washington voters are minimum wage earners. King County, home of Boeing, Microsoft, etc voted 72% in favour.

And how would you compare Washington's economy, or California's, to Ontario?

[Bob Macadoo]

Well since ON is running growth at just behind BC and Canada is double the US......I'll guess pretty good.

5 hours ago, Argus said:

And how would you compare Washington's economy, or California's, to Ontario?

 

[Argus]

48 minutes ago, Bob Macadoo said:

Well since ON is running growth at just behind BC and Canada is double the US......I'll guess pretty good.

That would be a very poor guess. The only growth in Ontario comes from government boring and spending, and of course, in the size of the debt.

[Bob Macadoo]

Well let's play the MLW game.....cite?

10 minutes ago, Argus said:

That would be a very poor guess. The only growth in Ontario comes from government boring and spending, and of course, in the size of the debt.

 

[Argus]

18 minutes ago, Bob Macadoo said:

Well let's play the MLW game.....cite?

 

Because I said so!

[Bob Macadoo]

.....I love this game.

7 minutes ago, Argus said:

Because I said so!

 

[PIK]

On 5/30/2017 at 2:46 PM, -1=e^ipi said:

Universal Basic Income is preferable for minimum wage. Minimum wage should be abolished in favour of Universal Basic Income.
 

Yes, because it's not like any of these people will become unemployed or have less hours due to such a policy...

Are you kidding me. This is the worst idea yet and it is going to put business out of business, people will be laid off. I am a business owner I know what is going on. The worst part is the small print,especially the 48 hr notice for workers to be called in. Restaurants and snow removal guys will be killed by that one. I can't get over the lefties that still believe money grows on trees. Time for people to buck up roll up the sleeves and get to work and work hard you will be rewarded. But paying some snot nose kid that knows nothing that much is insane.

[Argus]

Pretty much says it all. The new minimum wage hike will cost over 150,000 jobs, but why would the Liberals care about that?

Just as the Liberals know their hydro scheme is costly, they are also well aware their minimum wage hike will kill jobs. Two reviews they’ve commissioned in the past decade told them so. But they have evidently decided that the massive job losses are worth the electoral support they will receive from the public sector unions, even if it’s a policy that will prove dire for Ontarians.

http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/matthew-lau-wynnes-ontario-liberals-know-a-15-minimum-wage-will-kill-thousands-of-jobs-but-theyre-doing-it-anyway

[PIK]

1 hour ago, Argus said:

Pretty much says it all. The new minimum wage hike will cost over 150,000 jobs, but why would the Liberals care about that?

Just as the Liberals know their hydro scheme is costly, they are also well aware their minimum wage hike will kill jobs. Two reviews they’ve commissioned in the past decade told them so. But they have evidently decided that the massive job losses are worth the electoral support they will receive from the public sector unions, even if it’s a policy that will prove dire for Ontarians.

http://business.financialpost.com/fp-comment/matthew-lau-wynnes-ontario-liberals-know-a-15-minimum-wage-will-kill-thousands-of-jobs-but-theyre-doing-it-anyway

Of course liberals don't care, they know enough of ontarians are stupid enough to vote for them. I just received the lowest hydro bill ever and I am not going to vote for her even if it means it goes back up.(Which it is going to right after the election)