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Home My WebLink AboutHuron Expositor, 2017-06-07, Page 44 Huron Expositor • Wednesday, June 7, 2017 Huron Expositor Joblessness will rise with minimum wage PIIBLISHEO WEFNLY—ESi.IBfiO A nvone who believes Pre- mier Kathleen Wynnewill ack it in before next year's provincial election hasn't been paying attention to what she's doing. She's spending our money like a drunken sailor to win that election, although, as several of our readers have pointed out, that's an insult to drunken sail- ors, because they spend their own money. Wynne's latest victims are small business owners, in par- ticular, who create most of the jobs in our economy, on whom she's imposing a staggering 22.8 per cent hike in the minimum wage seven months from now. On Jan. 1, 2018, Ontario's minimum wage will rise from $11.40 ati hour to S14, followed by another $1 hike to $15 on Jan. 1, 2019, a massive 31.6 per cent increase in 19 months. What Wynne is doing is fis- cally irresponsible. One of the most important things in keeping any business afloat is the predictability of increased costs, so owners can plan for them. Minimum wage increases, therefore, should be imple- mented gradually and predicta- bly, the opposite of what Wynne is doing. Her double digit wage hikes for minimum wage workers also will put upward pressure on wages paid to workers earning a few dollars an hour above the minimum wage, putting further strain on already beleaguered small business owners. There's no free lunch here. Faced with large, sudden hikes in the cost of doing busi- ness, many small businesses will lay off staff or forgo hiring more staff, assuming they don't go under. As the great conservative thinker Thomas Sowell has observed of ideologically -driven politicians like Wynne, who announce dramatic hikes to the minimum wage with great media fanfare: "There is ... no way the tele- vision camera can show which unemployed people would P.O. 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Box 39, 53 Albert Street, Clinton ON NOM 110 For any non -deliveries or delivery concerns: phone: 519-482-3443 Advertising is accepted on condition that in the event of a typographical error, the advertising space occupied by the erroneous item, together with a reasonable allowance for signature, will not be charged, but the balance of the advertisement will be paid for at the applicable rate. In the event of a typographical error, advertising goods or services at a wrong price, goods or services may not be sold. Advertising is merely an offer to sell and may be withdrawn at any time. The Huron Expositor is not responsible for the Toss or damage of unsolicited manuscripts, photos or other materials used for reproduction purposes. Seafo!lh Huron Expositor is a member of the National Newsmedia Council, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For more information or to file a complaint go to www. mediacounciI.ca or call toll free 1-844-877-1163. Member of the Ontario Community Newspaper Association and the Canadian Community Newspaper Association. We acknowledge the 1 lel financial support of the anaaa Government of Canada. have had jobs if the minimum wage laws had not made them too expensive to hire at their current levels of skill and expe- rience and thereby cut them off from acquiring the additional skills and experience they need:' Wynne also is hiking employer costs by giving work- ers more mandatory vacation time and two new paid sick days. She will make it easier for workers to organize to keep her union friends on side, while hir- ing up to 175 more government bureaucrats to implement these changes. Simply put, Ontario taxpayers can't afford this premier. Ontario should call an Inquiry into nursing home murders Elizabeth Wettlaufer killed eight fragile seniors at two southern Ontario nursing homes with abandon and even delight, "cackling," as she put it, after their deaths and even going out to buy one patient pie and ice cream before murdering her. At the same time, between 2007 and 2014, the former nurse tried to kill four others, but failed. All this we know from Wett- laufer's trial, where she pleaded guilty to the murders, the attempted murders, and two cases of aggravated assault. What we don't know, but must quickly learn, is how she got away with it for so long. The province must call an inquiry into the murders to make sure everything is done to avoid a repeat of this appalling failure of our elder care system. It was chilling enough to learn about the ease with which Wett- laufer could access the insulin she used to kill her patients, and not get caught. Even more shocking, she might still be killing but for her confession to doctors and staff at Toronto's Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, who called police. There were plenty of warning signals, including outright con- fessions, that should have stopped Wettlaufer in her tracks. But tragically, they were ignored. Alarm bells should have been ringing, for one, over the warn- ings and suspensions she received for repeated medica- tion errors at the Caressant Care home in Woodstock, Ont., where she killed seven of her eight victims. The home eventually fired her. And as the Star's Sandro Con- tenta reported, it informed the College of Nurses of Ontario on March 31, 2014, that it had fired Wettlaufer for a "medication error" that put the life.of a resi- dent at risk. But when contacted by the Star, the college wouldn't even say whether it investigated her back in 2014. That information is key, con- sidering that Wettlaufer went on to kill 75 -year-old Arpad Horvath at Meadow Park in London, tried to kill a nursing home resident in Paris, and attempted to kill again while providing in-home care - all after she was reported to the college. Even more alarming was the number of times she actually confessed to the killings with- out any action being taken. Among them, she told her pastor in 2014. He prayed over her and then told her he would have to go to police if she ever did it again. She told a former sponsor at Narcotics Anonymous, who didn't believe her. In 2013, she spoke to a lawyer, who told her it was in her best interests to stay silent. She confessed to more friends, relatives and acquaintances, but none acted on the information. Then there is the question of how a person with so many personal problems, problems she confessed drove her to kill, could have seemingly unlim- ited access to drugs. She was a member of Narcotics Anony- mous, for example, but had access not only to the insulin she used to kill her patients but to the opiates they were on for pain. An inquiry should also look at the province's possible role in the deaths. Less than two years SEAFORTH HURON EXPOSITOR/CLINTON NEWS RECORD P.O. Box 39.53 Albert St., Clinton ON NOM 1L0 MONDAY: 9:00-5:00 • TUESDAY: CLOSED • WEDNESDAY: 9:00-5:00 • THURSDAY: ADVERTISING DEADLINE: FRIDAYS AT 2:OOpm • PHONE: 519 www.seaforthhuronexpositor.com ago, Ontario Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk delivered a scath- ing report criticizing the govern- ment for backlogged complaints and inspection delays at long- term care homes. Chillingly, she warned that residents were at risk. It's no wonder that, in the wake of Wettlaufer's confes- sion, many organizations are demanding an inquiry. They include the Canadian Associa- tion of Retired Persons, the Advocacy Centre for the Elderly, and the Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario, which says "we need to get to the bottom of what happened, how it happened and what we can learn from an organizational, regulatory and system perspective to ensure nothing like this ever happens again." Wettlaufer will be sentenced at the end of June, ending court proceedings against her. Once that is done, the Wynne government should announce a public inquiry into how the system failed so many seniors and their families. We must learn the lessons of this tragedy HOURS OF OPERATION 9:00-5:00 • FRIDAY: 9:00-5:00 -482-3443