PAWP

We are a group of non-political people who are against the Premier's sudden and reckless proposal raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour. In our opinion, this sudden and huge increase in minimum wage will do a great deal of harm to the economy of Ontario, and subsequently, Canada.

Basically, politicians have been using this easy, simple, and quick fix for almost a century. It did not help our economy in the past. In fact, it could be the main reason for the loss of a great number of manufacturing and industrial jobs in Canada and the rest of the Western World.

In our opinion, an increase so sudden and so huge will bring chaos to the market the results of which would manifest themselves in the loss of a great number of jobs. This is not just speculation. In Missouri, the state government had to repeal the latest increase in minimum wage because of job losses and business shut down. Other cities have suffered after raising the minimum wage as well.

In the last few decades, policies as such have killed most of the good paying jobs in the Western World. We predict that in next few decades, practicing the same policies will result in more people losing their jobs – both high and low-level ones.

Presented on this blog are a number of reasons to debunk the benefits Wynne is promising.

We will show you why we are against her policies. Hopefully, we will convince you to join us in denouncing this proposal.

Listed below are the benefits of our proposal:

1. All small businesses want to help the low-income earners. It is in our interest to do so. In fact, we feel that of all segments of the population, they are the most deserving for an award. However, increasing the minimum wage is not the way to go. Once businesses start paying higher wages, prices will be increasing. Thus, increasing the minimum wage does not increase the buying power of anyone. It has been proven time and again.
   So, why keep repeating the same errors of the past? If this is not an exercise in futility I do not know what is.
2. We propose issuing bonuses to all low-income earners based on the hours of work. The money would come from the federal and the provincial governments.
3. Our proposal will not cause prices to increase. This is the only way the Premier can help low income earners.
4. Bonuses are a great incentive for people to work. Canadians will have an advantage over temporary foreign workers who will not be entitled to the bonus.
5. As the extra funds make its way to the market, the economy would improve.
6. As a result, small businesses would be able to keep their employees. There will be no job losses. To the contrary, more people would be hired as a result of the extra economic activities.
7. As more people are working, there will be a surplus in the unemployment insurance funds. There will also be more taxes - sales and corporate.
8. Keeping our cost of living from increasing would help us compete on the world market. As a result, there will be more jobs available in the manufacturing sector.
9. Should the Premier insist on increasing the minimum wage to $15.00, by the year 2020, the minimum wage would have to go up again and again. We would be looking at $20.00 by the year of 2020. We would be putting most enterprises out of business.

Listed below are the negative consequences such a policy would have on the economy in the long run:

1. Even when the minimum wage was at $11.00, we have witnessed the loss of jobs in several sectors of the economy. For instance, in Thunder Bay, telemarketers closed shops and moved to other locations.
2. With $15.00, more jobs will be lost. Self-Serving check-out counters would become the norm. Not only at supermarkets and banks, but everywhere, including restaurants (most recently, McDonald’s announced that they will be replacing 2500 servers with kiosks). Also expect to see more banks closing branches and consolidating.
3. Large corporations are already eliminating jobs and replacing them with robots. As wages increase, they will be looking at more robots.
4. Small businesses cannot afford investing in automations. They already operate on a shoe string budget. Many of them would be forced to go out of business. More job losses. More people on welfare.
5. With higher wages, we will not be able to compete on the world market. Consequently, we would end up losing more jobs, including white collar jobs.
6. Servers at restaurant would be shocked to see patrons refusing to pay gratuity.
7. There will be less people who can afford to eat in restaurants.
8. More people would be losing their jobs and forced on social assistance.
9. With less profits, governments would be collecting less corporate taxes. Less sales taxes would also be collected as the economy slows down. When added to the extra social cost, the deficit would be exploding.
10. Pensioners on fixed income would be hurting. Their income will not keep up with inflation.
11. Workers who are earning more than $15 would end up losing as they see their income eroded by inflation. Most of those people would not be receiving an increase in wage or salaries.
12. Students and apprentices will have a harder time finding work.
13. People on social assistance and disability will hurt. Their income will not keep up with inflation.
14. Large corporations will be more eager to higher foreign workers who are afraid to complain even when abused. If Premier Wynne is serious about helping low earners, she should allow the market forces to take their courses. She should stop issuing work permits to visiting students and temporary workers. (According to reports by the CBC unscrupulous agents would collect $30,000 from migrants and bribe some businesses to offer them jobs. No one knows exactly what arrangements they make. One thing for certain, agents will keep a big chunk of the initial $30,000)
15. Depending on their combined income, couples would end up paying more taxes. The same goes for singles. So, some of the increase in wages would be eaten by taxes.
16. This is not all. Initially, making $15 an hour is going to look good for a few months. However, in the long term, that increase will be wiped out by inflation. Soon after, the last increase, inflation in Canada spiked in comparison to the rest of the world. At the time, we should have experienced deflation. The GDP contracted, the unemployment rate soared, workers took a cut in their wages, a severe recession gripped almost every nation, yet inflation was up in Canada.
    For reference, please view the following reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/ontario/comments/6rej70/pawp_people_against_wynnes_policies/dl8lm68/
    Basically, as we said earlier, nobody is going to benefit from this wage hike. Particularly, with this huge increase and a better economy, we anticipate a much higher inflation spike than the one that occurred between 2012 and 2017.
    Again, this approach to help low income workers is an exercise in futility. We believe our suggestion is by far more practical and helpful.
17. Cross border and on-line shopping will become more attractive. More lost jobs.
18. Tourism will also suffer. As the hospitality industry becomes less competitive, tourists would stay away from Canada. The result: more job losses.

In conclusion, we see no winners in The Premier’s proposal.

• If you are making more than $15.00
• if you are a pensioner
• if you have any cash savings
• if you are on social assistance
• if you have any investments in the market
• if you are a student
• if you have any job
• if you operate a business of any size

none of the above will see 30% increase in benefits. Therefore, all of us will be at the losing end.

Small entrepreneurs are collectively responsible for providing jobs for most of the workers. Most of them are already struggling. This sudden, quick, and substantial increase to $15.00 is going to put many of them out of business. As a result, many workers would be losing their jobs.

The economy is too important to be left to politicians alone. This reckless, irresponsible, self-serving and short-sighted decision must be stopped. Premier Wynne is not going to listen to one person. However, she will listen when millions of people oppose her policies.

We are a non-political movement whose goal is to set the record straight about the benefits of raising the minimum wage.

In principle, market forces alone should determine when wages and salaries are to be adjusted. In fact, this was the case in Canada and most of the Western World until the year 1918. There is no doubt that in a booming economy, raising the minimum wage and wages in general helps workers and subsequently the economy. However, in Canada, we are still trying to recover from the collapse of the oil prices.

Giving raises to workers only helps when companies are not forced to close shop and move elsewhere. Which would consequently lead to job losses. Yet, this is what has been happening in Canada for the last four decades. Politicians must come to realize that raising the minimum wage is no longer the only option we have to help low income earners.

We can help this group of workers without causing our cost of living to increase. This is what our movement is all about. If governments waste billions of dollars every year because of bad decisions. If governments are able to help so many groups of people and subsidize so many multi-nationals, they should be able to find a way to help low earners without hurting the economy.

If our political leaders have no alternative for raising the minimum wage, we invite them to read about our proposals. More importantly, we invite Canadians to learn why our suggestions are by far better than what Premier Wynne and other politicians keep introducing.

In our view, Canadian politicians should try their best to keep our cost of living down. Our high cost of living has already killed millions of jobs in the manufacturing and industrial sector. This new increase in the minimum wage is going to kill more jobs. The only difference this time around has to do with killing low income jobs along with the good ones.

Politician tactics have already killed many industries in this country. They should be working on creating quality jobs instead of killing more jobs. Moreover, they should revisit the reasons we have lost most the good paying jobs in Canada. They should reflect on how contradictory their decisions could be.

On one hand, we have a federal bank whose main task is to keep inflation under control, on the other hand, we have politicians who are introducing inflationary policies. This does not make any sense and does not stand to any logic. This movement is determined to put an end to this confusion.

In our view, not only should politicians stop this political charade, they should also revisit the past and study the causes that led to the losses of good jobs in our country. Next, they should work on eliminating them. History shows that mismanagement, missteps and flawed policies of the past are responsible for the loss of good jobs in Canada.

The problem with decisions made by governments lies in their anemic nature. It takes decades before they start showing their ill effects. The mess we are in now goes back to decade old misguided measures implemented by politicians of all parties.

We should not have to wait decades more to discover the harm of current political decisions taken by a Premier who is desperate to be re-elected. Canadians deserve good paying careers. Politicians are not being helpful nor inspiring by asking them to settle for low paying jobs.

Premier Wynne is playing games with your livelihood. Get involved and send her a copy of this whole essay. Including the pledge below.

We, the people of Ontario, demand that Premier Wynne scrap any future increase to the minimum wage. We also demand that the Premier adopt a more creative policy to assist low income earners without causing an increase in the cost of living. The Premier can truly and sincerely help low income earners by issuing bonuses to all workers who earn a minimum wage.

Furthermore, should the Premier insist on implementing her policy, we will be actively seeking her dismissal. In fact, we will be employing every legal mean to force her out of office. To begin with a person who propose a quick and sudden increase as such cannot be qualified to be in charge of our future and of that of our children.

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Robert Skaf