Split the difference
Look, there's no definitive answer to this question. On the one hand, you have to have a minimum wage in any state where you provide social assistance. The minumum wage has to be a decent amount above the welfare line, or a lot of people just wouldn't work. If you abolish minimum wage, you're also assigning a lot of people to state-supported poverty, and they'll be stuck there for a long, long time. Exactly
where you set it doesn't make a huge difference, but you've got to make it high enough so people have some incentive to work. Like most things related to government, it's a necessary evil.
Tim Horton's has seen the minimum wage jump by about 50% since 2004, with another on the way. Their revenues haven't kept up, they're in an oversaturated market, and when you have that many minimum-wage employees, that quickly becomes a whole lot of red ink. They're just doing typical corporate stuff when an election's on the horizon - trying to buy influence.
But the Liberals aren't about to stop a minimum-wage hike when they're facing so much opposition against the HST; remember, they're about to ram a tax down our throats. So, whatever they spend on Liberal lobbying will be wasted.
The OP didn't provide a source specifying discussions within the Liberal to actually do this; "various gov't officials" could be practically anyone. We can assume that Tim's is meeting with as many MPPs as they can, and a lot of them are probably from the PC party. They're gearing up for 2011, and think that Dalton's vulnerable. They're more than happy to receive some additional campaign funds from Tim's, and they'll probably promise anything to get it - perhaps, no more raises to the minimum wage in the future?
So, Tim Horton's is spending money on political lobbying... and? It doesn't mean it'll actually change the minimum wage, and the lobbying costs are a drop in the bucket for them; they file it under marketing and claim it on their taxes.
I'm just not sure why it collapsed into insults... it was fun to read until it got nasty. Seriously, all that over a short discussion of economic theory and a bit of banter. Geez, can't we all play nice in the sandbox?