Doug Ford to take money out of minimum wage workers' pockets

Doug Ford will shake hands today with employees of a Smithville-based manufacturing plant who will stand to lose $1,100 as a result of his plan to freeze the minimum wage.

Stanpac, which manufactures food containers, is currently hiring machine operators for the current minimum wage of $14 per hour, according to the company's jobsite.

Ford announced that he will freeze the minimum wage, taking cash out of the pockets of those very same workers he is using as a photo opportunity. He is denying them money they need to feed themselves and their families, pay for housing and address basic human needs. An additional $1,100 in annual income will allow workers in the Niagara region to pay for:

• Five weeks worth of groceries for a family of five
• Monthly rent for a three-bedroom apartment
• Diapers for an infant for two years

Doug Ford doesn’t believe 1.7 million Ontarians deserve to be paid a living wage; instead he would rather give corporate tax cuts to wealthy businesses like his own. His plan to stop the increase in the minimum wage will leave minimum wage workers worse off – a lot worse off.

It doesn’t have to be this way. We don’t need to keep switching between bad and worse. Andrea Horwath and the NDP will raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour and index future increases to inflation.