Ontario is not an economic island

Re Ontario corporations can afford to pay decent wages, Sept. 1 The column by Toby Sanger, senior economist for the Canadian Union of Public Employees, about the proposed minimum-wage increase appears compelling.

He tells us that corporate profits are at record highs and only about 25 per cent of workers earning less than $15 an hour are employed by small businesses. Consequently, implementing the change should not be a big deal.

His conclusions would be completely valid if Ontario was a selfsufficient island not linked to a global economy. Sadly, this is not the case. The fly in the ointment of his rosy rhetoric is that companies have an unfettered right to invest where they will and, during the long years of Liberal reign in Ontario, they have chosen to do so to the tune of 300,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs lost to other jurisdictions.

When you consider that, courtesy of the Ontario Liberals, hydro rates, marginal tax rates and provincial debt are the highest or close to the highest in North America, the minimum-wage increase may just be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.

When you also consider rising interest rates and the uncertainty of NAFTA, businesses have ample incentive to look elsewhere. Jonathan Household, Niagara-on-the-Lake When I read that businesses and lobby groups estimate the minimum-wage hike will cost employers $13 billion over two years, I interpreted that as a $13billion infusion into the market over two years, including increased tax revenue that pays for programs. Who wouldn’t want that? I’m sorry some small businesses will find the new wage challenging to pay. However, there is one industry I do hope suffers: food banks. Norah Downey, Midland