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More concerned about themselves
re. A modest little proposal for MPPs' pay
Thomas Walkom's proposal that MPPs' pay should be set at six times the minimum wage is overly generous.
If the minimum wage had kept pace with inflation since 1995, it currently would be more like $11 instead of the $10 he suggests it be raised to.
The minimum wage is currently set at $7.75 per hour for many jobs. Based on a 40-hour workweek, that comes out to $310 a week or $16,120 annually. If we gave MPPs five times the minimum, they would get an annual salary of $80,600, which is close to their pre-raise amount.
But if they had raised the minimum wage to keep pace with inflation since 1995, the minimum weekly pay would be $440, which works out to $22,880 annually. This would give MPPs a base pay of $114,400.
While not quite the princely amount they voted for themselves, it still would put them comfortably above the city councillors. More importantly, it would give hundreds of thousands of working people a living wage.
Unfortunately, Premier Dalton McGuinty and Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory seem more concerned with lining their own pockets than they are about the welfare of our working poor. I trust that Ontario's working people will remember this come October.
Gary Dale,
Toronto