CORNWALL, Ontario - Lobbyists will be at MPP Jim McDonell's office in Cornwall today to demand an increase to the provincial minimum wage.
The Cornwall & District Labour Council and community partners Agape Centre Food Bank and Soup Kitchen, the SD&G Coalition for Social Justice and the Social Development Council of SD&Ghave banded together to make the case for an increase to $14 an hour from the current $10.25.
The groups call it a "living wage" and argue it is the minimum people need to make to stay out of poverty.
"Coupled with the low wage, other working conditions, or rather the lack of appropriate working conditions, leave full-time workers scrambling to make ends meet working flat out when they can get the hours, and pounding the pavement to find a second or third part-time job to complement their first one," the groups said in a news release. "The labour council believes that there is a structural deficit in the province of Ontario, and Queens Park is failing to recognize or address it."
It's unclear if McDonell will be at his office to hear the demands of the groups.
"Our MPP may respond that he is a member of the opposition, not the government; we challenge that position," they said. "He was elected to represent the people of the riding and we are calling on him to work with the government, as part of the government, to act on behalf of the lowest paid workers of Ontario."
The groups are expected to meet at McDonell's office at 9 a.m.
