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Liberal and Conservative supporters are getting pretty desperate in their attempts to discredit opponents of the MPPs' pay increase. First, we find Steven Van Alstine's feeble attempt at deception in pointing out that the NDP MPPs aren't refusing the pay increase. While this is true as far as it goes, it ignores the fact that they have said they will be giving it to charity where it will do something directly for Ontario's poor. Then we find Erik Fletcher's fabrication of "numerous studies" that supposedly show that increasing the minimum wage leads to higher unemployment. In fact, no such studies exist, as was documented a few years ago in Scientific American. If anything, raising the minimum wage leads to more jobs as people have more money to spend and they usually spend it locally because minimum wage earners don't take expensive vacations abroad. Thomas Walkom has written several articles on that exact point. Appallingly, we then find Fletcher arguing that politicians aren't responsible for the welfare of the people they represent. If they aren't, then just what are they elected to do? When did our democracy become a plutocracy? Shafeena Rahim |