EVERY morning, Sadia, 33, drops off her toddler at a daycare and heads to her job at a bakery. She spends the greater part of her eight-hour shift on her feet, wearing a pleasant expression belying her troubles. Sadia (name changed to protect her identity) is barely able to get by for the month on her $15 minimum wage. The minimum wage was increased to $17.50 per hour in the 2020 budget.

Sadia’s husband is unemployed and works off and on. The family survives mostly on her meagre income. “I have to pay the daycare, buy groceries and handle other living expenses,” she told the Express last week. The couple is not renting but the tightly budgeted grocery bill alone comes up to about $2,000 for the month, she said.