Mr. Speaker, maybe the minister can explain how a federal bank employee in Vancouver can live on $8 an hour. It cannot happen. One can barely support oneself, let alone one's family on that. There is a choice here. The government can stand by and watch people drown in debt or it can create decent public policy for a minimum wage.
At a time when the business elites are raking in profits and the government has handed out billions in big oil subsidies, how can it refuse to set a decent living wage for its own workers under federal jurisdiction?