The NDP is 鈥渞einstate a federal minimum wage and increase it to $15鈥� and has also sent out that says their plan for the middle class includes a 鈥�$15/hour minimum wage.鈥�

On Friday, the Liberal Party that mimics the NDP鈥檚 website and has a button that says 鈥淒o you qualify for the $15 minimum wage increase?鈥�

Once you click, a message states 鈥渢he NDP minimum wage promise is a mirage. 99% of minimum wage earners do not qualify. It鈥檚 misleading and Thomas Mulcair knows it.鈥�

So who is correct?

An analysis shows the NDP advertising is at minimum incomplete, because it fails to mention that minimum wages are set by provinces for about 94 per cent of workers, including those in hospitality and retail, and their plan wouldn鈥檛 affect them.

The federal government only sets minimum wages for the six per cent who work in rail and air transportation, telecommunications, banks, uranium mining, Crown corporations and those on First Nation reserves.

In 2008, the federal government stated there were 820,000 federally regulated workers among the approximately Canadian workers employed that year. That same year, a found that that 95 per cent of those 820,000 federally regulated workers earned at least $12.50 per hour, which means only about 41,000 earned less than that.

Assuming that all 41,000 all made exactly the minimum wages in their provinces, that鈥檚 still only five per cent of the 884,000 Canadians who were earning the minimum wage in Canada

So, if one assumes 2008鈥檚 numbers still apply, then it appears at least 95 per cent of minimum wage earners wouldn鈥檛 be affected by the NDP plan, which is close to the Liberals鈥� assertion that 鈥�99 per cent of minimum wage earners do not qualify.鈥�

But what about those who earn between the provincially set minimum wages and the $15 mark the NDP are targeting for federally regulated workers? There are a lot more of those.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers, which supports the NDP federal minimum wage plan, estimates that people who would see instant wage hikes with a $15/hour federal minimum wage.

The NDP鈥檚 own estimate is similar. In a tweet released after the launch of the Liberals鈥� website, the party said that 100,000 low-income workers will get a raise under the NDP鈥檚 federal minimum wage plan.