Mandate #2

'Tis the season for telling government officials what to do.  The Premier is distributing Mandate Letters to all departments. In that spirit, and so he doesn't feel left out, there are some chores for him too.  There are seven of them, and I will take each in turn.

#2  repeal any law or regulation that permits paying People with Disabilities less than minimum wage

On Truth and Reconciliation Day, this ought to be self-explanatory.  You have to be unimaginably clueless to claim you're celebrating 'diversity' and 'inclusion' while treating people with disabilities like some kind of zooplankton.   

Somewhere in items c, d, and e below is a piece of paper that exempts so called "Social Enterprises" from paying minimum wage. They are dressed-up institutions that hearken back to Dickens.  This is a sow's ear which includes segregation, double standards and theft of work.

It is mostly applied to people with an extra chromosome 21, those with Down syndrome.  It makes us all complicit.

Citation

1        These regulations may be cited as the Minimum Wage Order (General).

Application

2        This Order applies within the Province of Nova Scotia to all employees and their employers except all of the following

                   (c)      employees for whom there are special orders by the Governor in Council; 

                   (d)     apprentices under an apprenticeship agreement in accordance with the provisions of the Apprenticeship and Trades Qualifications Act;

                    (e)      all persons receiving training under government sponsored and government approved plans;

These "Social Enterprises" may be well-meaning, but give the appearance of  being entrenched, self-satisfied, beholden to government, expensive, taxpayer-funded, mock charities.   If they really care about their clients, they can observe the tenets of individual choice and offer the best services to attract more customers.

This can all happen with a stroke of the Premier's pen.............