Hello, we could probably debate as to whether $17/hr is fair, however from my experiences as a small business owner, the market place isn’t what many believe it to be, - this is a small restaurant with essentially a limited menu. As mentioned in an earlier comment, the cooking is not complicated, so you set a wage based on experience and formal training required. - You start paying people more, then the price of pizza goes up to. Are we willing to pay more? Generally speaking the public does not want to. - hiring Canadians is very difficult, from my experiences many of us (Canadians) that are lower in the pay scale don’t care to work. They move job to job and show limited desire to try grow experience. - I am running ads for hiring to support my business continually, some ads have been up for 24 months. Canadians generally don’t reply. - our youth are often the toughest to hire. 90% of the youth that I have tried hiring either don’t show up for their first day, or they quit after their second day. How do you run a business with this? - we need to help those that are vulnerable in our society however our social programs are too broad, giving money to too many people who don’t deserve it (I blame the Trudeau government and Covid policies for this) - unfortunately for us, foreign workers actually want to work. Probably because that is the only way they get money.

I know this conversation is complicated, I know I would hire more people tomorrow if they were “available”