Your MPPs got a raise and you should be mad
Good morning from the Hammer — steel town, art town, your town. Don't look away.
So, listen up. While everyone's out here trying to figure out how to afford their rent on a minimum wage that's still a joke, our provincial politicians just got a fat 4.2% raise. Like, seriously? After a 16-year salary freeze, they decided last year to give themselves a 35% raise and a whole new pension plan, right? And now, on top of that, they're getting another bump. This isn't some small thing — it's MPPs making a lot more while people on Barton Street are skipping meals.
### What This Means for Hamilton
Here's the rub:
* **Cost of Living:** We're watching rents skyrocket from the Lower City to the Mountain, and people are scrambling. A 4.2% raise for someone making minimum wage, even in Nova Scotia, doesn't even touch what MPPs are now pulling down. * **Priorities:** It really makes you wonder where their priorities are. Is it on making life better for the people they represent, or making their own lives more comfortable? It feels like we're being told to tighten our belts while they're loosening theirs. * **The Optics:** It's a bad look. While students are stressing about finding jobs after graduation and families are trying to make ends meet, our politicians are doing just fine. It makes you feel like they're living in a different Hamilton than the one we're all fighting for.
This isn't just some Queen's Park story, it's a Hamilton story. It affects our neighbours trying to keep their businesses open on James Street North and the folks getting off shift at the steel mills along Burlington Street. When our elected officials vote themselves a raise like this, it feels like a slap in the face to everyone working their butts off just to stay afloat in this city. Good luck explaining that to a family trying to buy groceries at the Bay Area Farmers' Market, right?
Good morning from the Hammer — steel town, art town, your town. Don't look away.
My cousin Dragan and the crew talk about this kinda stuff every day — catch it live at mornings.live.