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We need a minimum wage in Nova Scotia and it is ridiculous that we don't have one.
We have the lowest minimum wage in Canada.
What are the other provinces thinking of us? They probably think we don't understand finances.
I know why we don't have one. There has not been a provincial government that has had the political will to enact one.
It is also the fault of the small business owners and their lobby against one.
The small business owner has a focus only on his business and he says to himself, ‘I am barely getting by now if I have to pay more I will have to close my door.’
It doesn't work that way. A tide raises all boats. Every business in the province has to raise the same amount. Do you really think that, Sobeys, Superstore, Walmart, will eat the increase? Of course not. They will raise their prices. Ditto the restaurants like Tim Hortons and McDonald's.
It will, maybe, increase the price of a cup of coffee by 15 cents or 20 cents for a hamburger.
No problem.
The workers take home more money so they should be easier to hire.
I lived in a province who raised their minimum wage $3. A year later you didn't hear too much of a complaint and I don't think many doors got closed.
Walter Jones lives in Amherst. His column appears weekly in the Amherst News.
