Mr. Speaker, I hear noise from the Liberal side of the House. I guess they cannot get enough attention these days.
Over the summer, we saw fast food workers protesting across the United States. That is an example Canadian workers could follow. It is a shame that workers have to go to that extent to just get a decent wage. Tens of thousands of low-wage American workers took to the streets with strikes and rallies. I was going to say it was to push for higher salaries but I should really say that it was for at least fair salaries. Organizations like the Service Employees International Union called on the U.S. government to raise the federal minimum wage to $15. It did so because it is even worse in the U.S. The U.S. minimum wage is currently $7.25 an hour. Think about that. How far will that get someone? How far will it take a family?
Income inequality around the world has started to generate a similar debate in other countries. It has actually led to some governments making change. Germany introduced its first minimum wage. It is slated to start in 2015. German companies are the economic powerhouse, really, of the world today, especially in Europe.
In Switzerland, people are asking that a Swiss adult earn a basic income. Members will recall that NDP policy for years talked about a guaranteed annual income. In Switzerland it works out to $2,800 on a monthly basis. Compare that to $10 an hour and we would understand how much more people could do for their families if they had that.
Australia has one of the highest minimum wages in the world at $17.45 an hour. People who are under 18 years of age earn somewhat less than that.
New Democrats, along with workers across Canada, believe that federal workers in Canada should have their own minimum wage. The Liberals, when in government, removed the federal minimum wage, as we have said repeatedly. Hopefully they have seen the error of that decision and will support the motion here today, although with the noise we hear from that end it is hard to decide which way they are going on this.
Experts believe that Canada's income inequality is at an all-time high, with approximately three million Canadians living below the low-income cut-off. There about one million Canadians earning minimum wage, 28% of whom are over the age of 35. They build their lives and into their 40s or 50s are still earning that. Also, 3.8 million workers in the U.S. earn wages at or below the federal minimum. What we are seeing in North America is a trend to drive workers' wages low or to keep them low.
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has in the past suggested that Ontario's minimum wage drags people into poverty. In fairness to the Government of Ontario, it just made a modest increase to $11 an hour, but the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has suggested that should have been $14.50 an hour in order to even begin to address poverty.
Our friends on the other side have an opportunity to reinstate a federal minimum wage. Our suggestion is to do it incrementally, to achieve it by 2015. They have the opportunity to do this, so why wait for an NDP government? Why not do it now?
The Conservatives have their views about law and order and people doing things right and following the rules. Canadians have followed the rules and they continue to do so, but when the rules hold them back in the manner that this does, we have to shake our heads. We have to ask why in the world the federal government would not institute at least a reasonable minimum wage of $15 an hour. What possible justification does it have for not doing that?
Commerce tells us that if the minimum wage is increased and people are given more disposable income they will spend it, which causes the economy to grow. The rest of us may have to pay a bit more in order to ensure that our fellow citizens live in dignity, but I am sure that if members on the other side stop to really consider that, they would be prepared to do that. They are not totally unreasonable people, although at times I wonder.
More than 94% of the increase in income inequity over the past 35 years occurred under the Liberal government. The reality is that statistics do not matter. What matters is what is happening in people's lives. We can argue statistics, and we heard that from the government side when it asked how many people this would affect. The government's figure is extremely low and some may find ours a bit high.
The reality is that some Canadians are living in poverty, unable to raise their children, unable to get their children educated in university or anywhere else. They have no chance in life to move ahead and they are looking to the federal government to give them a decent wage and $15 would just be the beginning. More has to be done for Canadians.