With respect to a piece posted in Niagara At Large this past Friday, November 15t under the headline ‘Niagara, Ontario Area MPP Asked To Push For Minimum Wage Hike’, I apologize for using the words ‘so-called” in front of the word “activists” to describe the people in an accompanying photo here with Welland Riding MPP Cindy Forster.
area activists call on Welland, Ontario riding MPP Cindy Forster, second to left, to send their message for a higher minimum wage in Ontario to Queen’s Park.
This is by no means an excuse, but I used “so-called in my comments under a media release circulated by Forster’s office after learning that a petition activists presented to the MPP, calling on the provincial government to raise Ontario’s minimum wage barely had more than 300 names on it.
I stand by my view that a petition with that few names on it from a Niagara region with a chronically high unemployment problem and where too many of the jobs that are left wages at the minimum level, leaving people struggling below the poverty level, is sad.
Far more of us should be petition the provincial government to replace a minimum wage that has been frozen now for more than three years with a livable one.
I have, by the way, removed the words ‘so called’ from the November 15th post.
(Niagara At Large invites you to share your views on this post. A reminder that we only post comments by individuals who share their first and last name with them.)
Niagara At Large 
What is the current minimum wage? I see my international students working in local restaurants and wonder if they are being paid correctly. What is the minimum wage for people working in the restaurant industry? I always put my tip in the server’s hand so there’s no chance of them having to share with management. In the retail industry I know of students who were told they wouldn’t be hired until they received their work permit, but then once they received their work permit they were only paid $7 an hour.
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It takes a big man to make that kind of admission. I applaud you Doug. But I also agree that to only have 300 signatures on that type of petition is somewhat concerning.
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Why should that number surprise anyone? Yes it is low, but look at the voting records in this region (apart from Welland putting Peter Kormos in office) and it slants heavily conservative, though it has primarily been working class area.
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