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The best thing the new government can do for these disadvantaged workers who are unable to sell their labour for $14 hourly, is to exempt them from the law that bans them from charging employers less.

But it is not only disabled workers who should be exempted from minimum-wage laws. Other workers face disadvantages through no fault of their own that make it difficult for them to sell their labour for $14.

There are immigrants who might not be fluent in English. Or seniors confronted by ageism. There are workers whose skills have become obsolete. Really, anyone who can’t demand $14 an hour for his or her labour should be automatically exempted from the $14 an hour minimum wage.

That would likely also include many publicly schooled youths in Ontario, disadvantaged by the deterioration of education that occurred under Liberal governments, with about half of Grade 6 students now failing to meet provincial standards in math.

Having failed to provide Ontario’s young people with necessary skills, the government went and disqualified many of them from finding jobs by raising the minimum wage to a level that their skills and education cannot justify. This prevents them from finding low-wage jobs that would give them work experience and qualify them for better jobs in the future. Surely these youths disadvantaged by low-quality public schooling should also be allowed exemptions from the minimum wage law.

Indeed, no workers should be subject to Kathleen Wynne’s unfair and unkind minimum wage law. No government has the right to tell someone that if they cannot find a job paying $14, then they will not be allowed to have a job at all.

Matthew Lau is a Toronto writer.