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Fraser touts party's push on low wage
By NEIL HORNER
News Reporter
September 21st, 2007
Although he did his best to field the questions and address the concerns of the 25 people who came to Rotary House for an open house Wednesday night, it was when discussing his party's push to raise the minimum wage Alberni-Qualicum MLA Scott Fraser really caught fire. Noting the premier had agreed not to cancel the fall sitting, Fraser said the NDP plan to push to raise the minimum wage from its current $8 per hour to $10. "What we are pushing really hard to do is to bring pay equity and close a little of the gap between the very wealthy and those who are not,"he said. "There's a larger gap in B.C. than anywhere else in Canada." This gap, he said, has only grown wider with the institution of the $6 training wage, which employers can pay an employee for their first 500 hours. Fraser said his party would like to scrap the training wage. "It doesn't take 500 hours to flip burgers,"Fraser said. "This training wage is a license for abuse." The minimum wage, he continued, has not been raised for six years, leading to increasing poverty amongst those who toil at the bottom end of the employment ladder. "There's a lot of wealth being generated and a lot of people are not getting to take part in that,"Fraser said. "There was a report last week that showed while levels of poverty across the country are all dropping, B.C. is the only province where the level of poverty is growing." Although he said his party intends to push the issue in the next legislative session, Fraser said he doesn't see any signs of support for raising the minimum wage on the government side of the House. "Poverty is expensive,"he said. "It costs everybody, in health care, policing, in all sorts of sections in our society. It just comes out of other pockets. I don't believe the Liberal government sees it that way. They're not showing any support at all." news@pqbnews.com
Original Source:
http://www.pqbnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=50&cat=23&id=1069347&more=1
By NEIL HORNER
News Reporter
September 21st, 2007
Although he did his best to field the questions and address the concerns of the 25 people who came to Rotary House for an open house Wednesday night, it was when discussing his party's push to raise the minimum wage Alberni-Qualicum MLA Scott Fraser really caught fire. Noting the premier had agreed not to cancel the fall sitting, Fraser said the NDP plan to push to raise the minimum wage from its current $8 per hour to $10. "What we are pushing really hard to do is to bring pay equity and close a little of the gap between the very wealthy and those who are not,"he said. "There's a larger gap in B.C. than anywhere else in Canada." This gap, he said, has only grown wider with the institution of the $6 training wage, which employers can pay an employee for their first 500 hours. Fraser said his party would like to scrap the training wage. "It doesn't take 500 hours to flip burgers,"Fraser said. "This training wage is a license for abuse." The minimum wage, he continued, has not been raised for six years, leading to increasing poverty amongst those who toil at the bottom end of the employment ladder. "There's a lot of wealth being generated and a lot of people are not getting to take part in that,"Fraser said. "There was a report last week that showed while levels of poverty across the country are all dropping, B.C. is the only province where the level of poverty is growing." Although he said his party intends to push the issue in the next legislative session, Fraser said he doesn't see any signs of support for raising the minimum wage on the government side of the House. "Poverty is expensive,"he said. "It costs everybody, in health care, policing, in all sorts of sections in our society. It just comes out of other pockets. I don't believe the Liberal government sees it that way. They're not showing any support at all." news@pqbnews.com
Original Source:
http://www.pqbnews.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=50&cat=23&id=1069347&more=1
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