Minimum Wage Bill

Last Thursday there was a vote at second reading in the Ontario Legislature on Cheri DiNovo’s reintroduced private member’s bill to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour. The Bill was defeated 33-11. Almost 60% of the House was absent. There were so few Liberals present that had enough opposition members been there, and had it been a matter of confidence, the government could have been defeated. The government whip’s job is to ensure that such an occurrence never happens. For a majority government to have what I call a guaranteed majority, a certain minimum of government members must be present. This minimum is one more than the total number of opposition members in existence combined. Any less than this and the government can be outvoted. I have looked at numerous House votes both federal and provincial and I have seen that on some occasions the total number of voting government members is less than the guaranteed majority number. My assumption is that in these instances, the whip also counts how many opposition members are present. If the opposition number is insufficient, I can assume the vote proceeds and the government maintains a relative majority for that particular vote. The government whip’s job is to count both government and opposition members present to ensure that the government never loses a crucial vote of any kind.

I have gotten off topic. I wanted to say that my position on the minimum wage has not changed. I do not support Cheri DiNovo’s Bill and instead support the government’s plan to continue to incrementally increase the minimum wage. One Liberal MPP, Tony Ruprecht, voted in favour of the Bill. This is consistent with his statement during the election that he supports an immediate 10 dollar minimum wage. Considering the poverty levels that exist in his riding of Davenport, I do not blame him at all for his position. I feel like listing here the recorded division on DiNovo’s Bill:

In Favour:

Bisson
DiNovo
Gélinas
Hampton
Horwath
Kormos
Marchese
Miller (Hamilton East–Stoney Creek)
Prue
Ruprecht
Tabuns

Against:

Aggelonitis
Arthurs
Balkissoon
Broten
Brownell
Chudleigh
Colle
Delaney
Dhillon
Dickson
Flynn
Gerretsen
Hardeman
Hoy
Jones
Klees
Kwinter
Lalonde
Leal
Levac
Mitchell
Moridi
Naqvi
Ramsay
Rinaldi
Savoline
Scott
Sergio
Shurman
Smith
Van Bommel
Wilkinson
Wilson

Rick Downes, NDP, minimum wage

Rick Downes is the provincial NDP candidate for Kingston and the Islands. On his website, www.rickdownes.ca, there is a video of his nomination speech. It is evident from this speech and his website that he supports his party’s policy of legislating an immediate increase of Ontario’s minimum wage to 10 dollars an hour. In his nomination speech, Downes heaps much praise about the successful policies and outcomes of the recently re-elected Manitoba NDP government. However, I have a very good question to ask. Can Mr. Downes explain why his beloved Manitoba NDP government has not increased Manitoba’s minimum wage to 10 dollars an hour? Why in fact is Manitoba’s minimum wage at 8 dollars an hour, the same as Ontario’s currently is? Does even Downes beloved Manitoba NDP government realize that an immediate increase in the minimum wage would be an economically disastrous thing to do? Is the Manitoba NDP, just like the Ontario Liberals, instead taking more moderate steps to help the working poor rather than facilitating a large and crippling minimum wage jump? If so, I think Mr. Downes may be in need of some lessons from his own NDP colleagues from Manitoba.

Had Ernie Eves been re-elected in 2003, Ontario’s minimum wage would remain frozen from 1995 levels. If John Tory is elected, the minimum wage MAY continue to increase, but I cannot say for certain. Tory has mostly been vague on minimum wage policy. By electing the Liberals, the working poor living on minimum wage have been able to see a steady increase in their living wage to make up for 8 years of neglect. If re-elected, the Liberals will continue on this path, and eventually moving the minimum wage to 10 dollars an hour in a gradual manner that will not create economic shockwaves.