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While Quebec restaurant owners — including some prominent chefs — are calling for the province to change the labour code to allow mandatory tip pooling, not every cook is convinced that’s the right answer.

Currently, wait staff make an average of about $27 per hour, while wages for kitchen workers average about $16 an hour, according to a survey conducted by the Association des restaurateurs du Québec.

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Restaurateurs say tip sharing is a solution to that wage gap in restaurants.

They would like the province to allow for mandatory tip sharing — which would see waiters pay a portion of their tips into a pool that would be shared with workers who don’t receive tips directly.

Currently, that’s only allowed if the majority of wait staff agree to join a tip-pooling arrangement.

The restaurateurs say allowing them to implement tip-sharing programs would make things fairer for kitchen workers.

They’ve also argued it will help solve a labour shortage that has restaurants — particularly those outside Montreal — struggling to find kitchen workers.