I have an idea that might help improve things for working people here. If you think it's good, write your MP.
If you disagree; Call me whatever you want. I've got thicker skin and a sharper tongue than you.
Context: Minimum wage is set by provinces, but every business pays federal taxes. There is a pressure point there that would just take enough of us pushing it to make change.
Idea: Set a “soft” minimum wage at the federal level. McDonalds, Loblaws, Amazon, etc, they can pay the minimum wage, or any wage in between the provincial “hard” minimum and the federal “sot” one, but any wage paid in that window is not deductible against the business' federal taxes.
Exemptions can be carved out for small business, the numbers they are decided on (number of employees, revenue, etc) can be negotiated in parliament, but I think the basic idea is solid.
Instead of paying one lobbyist a lot of money to influence MPs to vote for a tax break, they would just pay the workers that make them their money more, write that off, reduce their tax bill.
Then their employees would have extra money to maybe buy the stuff the businesses sell, ultimately increasing their profit.
Henry Ford (problematic as he is, not defending his other opinions) understood this. If your employees have enough money to buy your product, that's WAAAAY BETTER than a tax break.
To the unavoidable bootlickers that will respond early: How/why is a fast food employee having enough money to buy a meal from the place they work at a bad for the economy?