Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague for the question.
Minimum wage is a very important issue, because it has an impact on everyone's quality of life.
I will add one more thing, because this is about the government making choices. We have seen the Conservatives go out on this income-splitting scheme, some multiple billions of dollars that is going to help fewer than 15% of Canadians, and not the Canadians my friend references, those in the middle. Those earning at the lower end of the spectrum will not be helped by a multi-billion-dollar tax scheme proposed by the government.
That is what it plans to do with the surplus that has been so hard fought for through all those cuts to services for Canadians, veterans, our food inspection. All of that was to pay for what: something to help out the 15% who likely need it least and who are least likely to reinvest it back into the Canadian economy.
This is when orthodoxy and ideology rule out any kind of economic sense and evidence. We know that government is always about choices. We propose choices, like the choice in front of us today, that will directly and importantly help those who need the help.
Why would the Conservatives possibly want to say that for people who are earning $10 or $11 an hour, that it is where they should stay, and their families should survive by just making do. The Conservatives are saying that the rest of us are fine on the salaries an MP makes. That is some contradiction in terms.