Mr. Speaker, everyone in this House is concerned about poverty and everyone wants to see it as something that becomes history and not something that is part of so many Canadians' daily lives.
I appreciate the motion being brought forward by the member for Sault Ste. Marie and his compassion and his passion on this issue but I do have a concern about the motion.
I come from a rural area in Canada and mandating the $10 per hour minimum wage would be extremely difficult for a lot of my small businesses and farms. The hon. member said that he wants to talk about the future in implementing the program. If we were to go ahead with a $10 minimum wage that would put a lot of our small businesses in rural Canada under the table or essentially take them off the map, creating more unemployment. How would we address that situation?
We need to be concerned that in every area of Canada one size does not fit all.