Howard Hampton and the NDP are committed to ensuring working families earn a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work. That’s why we are committing to an immediate increase in the minimum wage to $10 dollars an hour – and increases after that to match inflation. That’s also why we’re committing to rolling back Dalton McGuinty’s extravagant $40,000 pay raise.

Dalton McGuinty let down hard-working families when he rushed through a huge pay raise for himself right before Christmas. McGuinty’s $40,000 pay raise is the same amount an average Ontario man earns in an entire year. The pay hike is 54 per cent more than the $25,600 earned by the average Ontario woman.

For the 237,000 Ontario workers who work hard for minimum wage, and for the 1.2 million Ontarians who earn less than $10 an hour, the NDP’s fair wages plan will mean hard work rewarded with the chance to earn a decent living and get ahead. These workers are disproportionately women and New Canadians. Many of them are raising children while trying to make ends meet and living below the poverty line, even though they’re working full-time hours or two or three jobs just to make ends meet.

Unlike McGuinty Liberals who want to make working families wait three years for a $10 mininum wage – if you believe their promises - the NDP will raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour immediately. We’ll follow that with increases to match inflation. Making hard-working families wait three more years for a fair minimum wage means three more years of Ontarians struggling to get by.

Our plan is good for the economy. It's good for workers. It's good for small business where people who earn minimum wage spend their money. It's practical and sensible. It’s the right thing to do.

Our plan will also mean real action to protect good-paying jobs. Ontario has lost 175,000 manufacturing and resource jobs with McGuinty as premier. We will put people’s jobs first, taking action to protect good jobs and ensure – as other jurisdictions have done – that plants are not shut down at the expense of workers’ benefits, pensions and severance.

Dalton McGuinty got it wrong when he gave himself a $40,000 pay raise but denied hard-working families a fair $10 minimum wage. He was wrong to abandon Ontario’s manufacturing heartland and the thousands of working women and men who lost their jobs. New Democrats will make it right by raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour immediately and by rolling back McGuinty’s $40,000 pay raise.

We’ll ensure a fair day’s pay for a hard day’s work:

• raise the minimum wage immediately to $10 an hour
• roll back Dalton McGuinty’s extravagant $40,000 pay raise
• put people’s jobs first, taking action to protect good jobs and ensure – as other jurisdictions have done – that plants are not shut down at the expense of workers’ benefits, pensions, and severance

Filed Under: Election 2007 | Ensuring a fair day's pay for a hard day's work