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“I don’t know other restaurant owners’ situations, but I’ve done the math. If you have a staff of two people, then obviously that changes things. But I’ve got a staff of 17. Those are the facts for me.”

The higher wage has been opposed by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Ontario Restaurant Hotel & Motel Association, among others.

However, a handful of Ottawa businesses say they support the move. Jessica Carpinone, co-owner of Bread by Us Bakery in Hintonburg, supported the $15-an-hour minimum wage in an opinion piece she wrote for the Ottawa Citizen in June.

Photo by Jean Levac / OTTwp

“There are a number of reasons why businesses close, but paying fair wages is not one of them,” she wrote. “I cannot stress this enough: Well-paid and satisfied workers are better for business. Not only are they willing to work hard for you, but their satisfaction is felt by customers.”

And last month, Ivan Gedz of Union 613 in Centretown announced he was boosting his workers’ minimum wage to $16 and said restaurateurs who say paying “a fair living wage couldn’t be done” are “full of s—.”

But Black Tomato’s Besserer is adamant that he’s had enough. He plans to unveil protest banners in his eatery on Tuesday and has ordered black T-shirts for staff that say “Grim” on the front and “Wake Up Ontario’ on the back. Telling his employees the business was closing was tough, he said.

“There were a lot of tears shed. To stand here for 23 years in the kitchen and to work like a dog to have this happen — it hurts. That’s reason No. 1. Reason No. 2 is I had to stand here like a grinch and tell 17 staff members that they don’t have a job after Christmas time. Twenty-three years of hard work and what do I do? I put a key on the counter and walk away. That’s a hard pill to swallow.”

bcrawford@postmedia.com

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