Slaves?  Hardly.  The employees I see are not single parents trying to make ends meet.  Most are high school or university students living at home, and some are pensioners looking to keep busy and making a few extra bucks.  The stores offer what they value the most...scheduling flexibility....at least until their hours get cut back or they lose their job outright as a cost-cutting measure.

Check out Alberta's experience.  While all the other provinces saw job gains, Alberta lost 14,000 jobs....all part-time jobs, according to the City of Edmonton's chief economist (who admitted not seeing this coming).  The move to $15/hr minimum wage, while well-intentioned, has hurt the very people it was intended to help.  

It can happen in Ontario too.