sidewalkdime

- by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

If you saw it on the sidewalk you might not even bother to bend to pick it up.

After a full hour of work, this dime is the raise our provincial government has given to a minimum wage worker, as of today. According to Statistics Canada, this will be the raise for approximately half a million of our Ontario neighbours, many of those the same workers government deemed "essential" when we needed take-out food and full shelves of toilet paper.

As average Owen Sound rents continue to rise, we are planning for a dozen more fast-food restaurants in town to compete for the lowest-waged workers and we are reconsidering public transit and its costs.

What will this ten cent raise – 0.7% - do for Owen Sound?