An opposition push to raise Ontario's minimum wage by $2.25 to $10 moved one step further to becoming law yesterday, but that is as close as it is likely to get.
Toronto New Democrat MPP Cheri DiNovo, whose private member's bill to raise the wage passed second reading, said the hike is necessary because workers who put in full-time hours in Ontario cannot pay their bills under the current rates.
She noted that the minimum wage is not enough to allow a working parent to feed his or her children and cover rent.
Anyone working full time at $7.75 an hour would earn $1,200 a month.
"We're talking about bringing people up to the poverty line. On what ethical basis can you deny this?" she said in the legislature before the vote.
Afterward, she credited her plea with persuading some elected officials to vote with their consciences instead of along party lines.
"There's a shame factor here. They didn't want to go on record as voting against minimum wage," said Ms. DiNovo, who represents Parkdale-High Park.
Private member's bills seldom become law, and the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives have said they do not support the increase.
The bill must now be debated in committee hearings before it can be returned to the legislature for third and final reading.
Ms. DiNovo, who won her seat in a hotly contested by-election in September, acknowledged the bill's poor chances but counted yesterday's winning vote as a victory for the poor.
"This is very, very hopeful. We're moving it forward. It was not defeated."
Anti-poverty groups in Ontario welcomed the chance -- albeit a slim one -- to boost the minimum wage.
But they added that, at $10 an hour, people would still be living in poverty.
The proposed rate would merely give people "some basic ability to survive," said John Clarke, an organizer with the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty.
"It's certainly not charting a course that's lavish."
The Liberals and Tories have argued that a $2.25-an-hour hike in the minimum wage -- which varies across the country from $6.70 in New Brunswick to $8.50 in Nunavut -- would do more harm than good because it would hurt the bottom lines of many small businesses.
Ottawa Liberal MPP Phil McNeely said that his party prefers gradual raises to the wage because they allow small businesses more time to adjust to the increase in labour costs.
Ontario's Liberal government did just that after taking office in 2003, raising the minimum wage, which was $6.85, in four stages. The final increase will take effect on Feb. 1, when the rate will reach $8 an hour.
Conservative MPP Norm Miller (Parry Sound-Muskoka) argued that while well intentioned, the raise could lead to job losses.
He told the legislature that "a strong economy leads to higher wages."
About 200,000 Ontario residents earn the minimum wage, and 1.2 million people earn less than $10 an hour.