The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

.__WATERLOO CHRONICLE 8 + WATERLOO CHRONICLE * Wednesday, February 21 jormston@waterloochronicle.ca Bob NRBANAC SPORTS EDITOR ar. 229 Peter WINKLER PUBLISHER Andrea BAILEY EDITOR e 215 editorial@waterloochronicle.ca Jennifer ORMSTON REPORTER ar. 203 sports@waterloochronicle.ca ADYERTISING Gerry MATTICE . Eu1. 230 RETAIL SALES MANAGER sales(@waterloochronicle.ca ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Norma CYCA ext. 223 ncyca(awaterloochronicle.ca Bill PIHURA ext. 228 bpihura(a: waterloochronicle.ca Carly GIBBS ext. 222 cgibbs(@ waterloochronicle ca CLASSIFIED 519â€"895â€"5230 CRCULATION $19â€"886â€"2830 xt 213 Canadian Publications Mail Sales Publication Agreement Number 40050478 International Standard Serial Number ASSN 0832â€"3410 ONTARIO PRESS COUNCIL The Waterloo Chromcle is a member of The Ontario Press Council, which considâ€" Audited Circulation The Waterloo Chronicle is published each Wednesday by Metroland Media Group Ltd . a subsidiary of Torstar Corporaâ€" ers complaints against member newspaâ€" pers. Any complaint about news, opinâ€" rons advertising or conduct should first be taken to the newspaper . Unresoived comâ€" plaints can be brought to: Ontario Press Council, 2 Carlton Street, Suite 1706, Toronto. ON . MSB 133 COPYRIGHT The contents of this newspaper are proâ€" tected by copyright and may be used only for personal nonâ€"commercial purposes All other rights are reserved and commerâ€" cial use is profubited. To make any use of this material you must first obtain the permission of the owner ot the copy right For further information contact Andrea Bailey. I ditor. Waterloa ( hrom cle, 279 Weber St N . Surte 20. Waterioo UOntania N2T NX Letters to the editor must contain the writer‘s full name, signature, address and telephone number Addresses and telephone numbers are used only for verification pur poses and will not he published . Names will not be withheld We reserve the right to edit. condense or reyect aay contribution for bresity or legal purpases: Letters may he submitted by far to $19â€"886â€"9181 or by email to edntorialiaiwaterfoochromcle ca or by mail or detivered to Waterioo (hromtâ€" cle, 279 Weber St_ N.. Suite 20. Waterloo, Ontaryo NJ 3HK LETVERS POLCY 279 Weber St. N., Suite 20 Waterioo, Ontario N2J 3H8 519â€"886â€"2830 Fax: 519â€"886â€"9383 www.waterloochronicle.ca FAX $19â€"886â€"9383 EMAI MaAIL OR IN PERSON 270 Weber St N Suite 20 Waterloo Ontarie adiinah a weaterlonchromcle ca y2J 1H8 31.292 City counciliors need to do their homework _ 'Maf\y of these groui); were waiting to hear whether Waterloo will be giving them grants during Monday‘s council meeting. e _ But all they ‘éo( were looks of bewilderment an a lack of commitment from the politicians. _ After learning about city council‘s decision last year to use oneâ€"time funding from the tax rate stabilization reserve to address some of the requests, Coun. Diane Freeman said, "I feel totally blindsided by this. "I have no idea whether there‘s any policy in place with regards to how deep one can reach into these reserves." Councillors have been considering the operating and capital budgets for weeks, looking at what was done last year and considering the city‘s future needs. Part of that process has been to decide how to allocate funding for external agencies Shouldn‘t they understand by now the protocol for making these decisions? And moreso. if they don‘t understand some things. shouldn‘t they consult with the city‘s finance departâ€" ment? Instead they said nothing, and left the council meetâ€" ing with egg on their faces. They also left many of these community groups in the lurch. Veteran councillors went as far as calling this year‘s process of deciding how to allocate the funds "farcical" and "horrendous." It‘s difficult to disagree with them VIEWPOINT t‘s not hard to find disâ€" Igrun(led people in the world today. They‘re the ones who cut drivers off on the road, butt ahead in line or take satisâ€" faction in putting others Many names are often used to describe them: jerks, idiots and cretins, to name just a few. _ But, for some, I‘ve come up with another: hard workâ€" They work long hours, hustling to make ends meet while barely staying above water. And they have a right to be spiteful. _ â€" And at the end of the day, while others are going home to a hot meal and a warm bed, many of them are relyâ€" ing on food hampers for dinner and emergency shel ter from the elements. These are the men and women who are making Ontario‘s minimum wage of $8 per hour â€" totaling a mere $16,770 a year. You‘ll find them in a variâ€" ety of jobs, from retail stares and restaurants to hotels and gas stations. Many of them are on their feet for the better part of a day, serving customers, stocking shelves or whatever the case may be. Yet their contributions are unappreciated, which is evident by the wage they‘re given. 1 saw a prime example of the toll our province‘s pathetic pay structure has taken on people last week while visiting a friend who NOAVIWE works at a local grocery store. After chatting for a couâ€" ple of minutes, we were interrupted by one of her coâ€"workers who seemed put off that my friend was taking a moment to catch up with me 1 couldn‘t help but think, where are we â€" pl’l\lb“? Since â€" when _ should someane be chastised for taking literally a moment to chat on the jo? But then Llooked at the situation differently. Perhaps this woman is so frustrated by the lack of power she has over her perâ€" sonal life â€" thanks to her meager earnings â€" that she tries to overcompensate at Or maybe, despite her poor pay, she‘s so grateful for her job that she demands the same dedication from everyone around her. Whatever the case, she clearly wasn‘t happy. and it‘s possible her weekly pay has something to do with her After speaking to Rick Moffitt, president of the Waterloo Regional Labout Council, last week, my theoâ€" ry made more sense. He shared that dependâ€" ency on community servicâ€" es, such as the Food Bank of Waterloo Region and the Out of the Cold shelter proâ€" gram, is at an allâ€"time high. And the scary part is a fair number of the people accessing help from these programs are working full time â€" making minimum wage. Moffitt‘s group hosted a townâ€"hall meeting last week at the Kitchener public library, highlighting the peoâ€" ple in our community who are in dire straits thanks to the low minimum wage, and boosting the idea of raising Ontario‘s minimum wage to $10 per hour. As Moffitt said, $10 per hour wouldn‘t solve everyâ€" one‘s problems, but it would be a start And it‘s not too much to ask of our community‘s large corporations â€" many of whom are rolling in profit Waterloo MPP Elizabeth Witmer believes the poverty issue runs deeper than hourly wages. â€" 10 cough up more coin for their frontâ€"line workers That may be the case, but it‘s hard to ignore the fact that a person with no strugâ€" gles other than a lowâ€"paying job is forced to dine at soup kitchens or sleep on cots in church basements. Something has to give namely the province.