A Smoking Gun?

Oh, what a tangled web they weave.

To Protect And Serve

The police protect and serve - they really do. It's just that we aren't the ones receiving those services:

More On The Minimum Wage

The struggle to raise the minimum wage has been the subject of several of my recent posts. The current wage of $10.25 in Ontario is as inadequate as the $7.25 that the majority of jurisdictions in the United States pays, forcing millions to live below the poverty line even if they are working 35-40 hours per week.

Today's Star has an editorial championing an increase, perhaps not the 40% immediate increase that poverty activists are calling for in Ontario, but at least a reasonable step toward that goal.

Consider this startling fact from the editorial:

Some 534,000 Ontarians work 35 hours or more each week in fast-growing retail and service industries, earning the provincial minimum wage of $10.25 an hour. Indeed, with annual earnings under $20,000, these workers will never even crack the paltry official low-income measurement of $23,000 a year. That means a lot of people are working very hard just to remain in poverty.

While praising the Liberals for having made some progress on this file, given that the much-despised previous Harris government had frozen it at $6.85 an hour for nine years, the fact that it has been stuck at $10.25 since 2010 leads the paper to advocate the following:

The least the government should do is continue the same trend of raising the minimum wage 2.5 times faster than the rate of inflation. That would mean an increase of 13.5 per cent, to catch up since 2010. It translates into an increase of $1.40 an hour, bringing the minimum wage up to about $11.65.

That would still leave many full-time workers stuck in poverty. And it would disappoint activists pushing for an immediate increase to $14 an hour – the level that would bring earnings just above the poverty line. But it would mean a hike of almost 40 per cent, a huge burden on many businesses.

While business will always bewail and bemoan any increase that might mean having to share a little more of the profits made possible by their serfs workers, the plan seems eminently doable and a decent start on the road to a living wage that everyone deserves.

Barney Frank Asks An Awkward Question

I have a question of my own: why doesn't Canada have someone like Frank willing to speak truth to power?

Guns Don't Kill People - Video Games Do: Pretzel Logic From Fox

I'm sure this makes sense to many Americans:

A Suggestion For The Wayward Woman From Wadena

A Star reader has a succinct suggestion for the errant Senator Wallin:

Re: She pays up, but Wallin's not happy about it, Sept. 14

If Pamela Wallin really wants to “unburden” the people of Canada, and in particular the people of Saskatchewan, she will do the right thing and resign from the Senate. She has brought shame and disrespect to herself and to the Senate through her outrageous behaviour.

The fact that she has agreed to repay $136,369 speaks volumes of her claim of innocence. And to blame the outside audit firm of Deloitte and the Senate’s internal investigative committee for her wrongful deeds simply exacerbates her guilt.

Donald Cangiano, Oakville

The Power Of Faith

It has been said that faith can move mountains. According to televangelist Cindy Jacobs, it can also grow cheekbones and eliminate 'grapefruit-sized tumours':