Someone posted a very prescient comment about this subject on these boards a few days ago.  Any business paying minimum wage is being subsidized by taxpayers.  That is because any employee at that income level qualifies to some degree for most, if not all, federal and provincial government programs for low income people:  little or no income tax, GST rebate, subsidized housing, etc.

In other words, those employers are foisting a portion of their employment costs onto the rest of us.  No tears for them in this quarter.