Mr. Speaker, I want to thank my friend from Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie. That is as close as my French will come. He has made some excellent points we need to really consider.
My friend from the north just asked a question about people working at airlines. Imagine earning $10 an hour, having four children at home, being the sole provider, working in a technical job that requires one's complete attention, and sitting there worrying about how to pay the bills at the end of the month. It strikes me as so sad that people from the other side cannot seem to see this. Even if it was solely 400 people, if this was improving their lives, why in the world would they not want to improve their lives? It does not make sense.
I will repeat a phrase my friend used: New Democrats believe Canadians who work hard and play by the rules should be able to make a decent living. Since the 1980s, I have watched the income disparity grow in this country. It got worse in 1996, when our friends down here in the Liberal Party cut out the federal minimum wage.
It is about leadership at the federal level, not about dollars and cents. Coming back to my friend's proposition, if the federal government takes the lead in increasing the minimum wage, then it is guidance for the provinces to do the same.
You might have noticed during your speech that I was writing around the corners of my speech. I tend to do that, because you prompted some good ideas—