Premier Doug Ford plans to raise Ontario’s minimum wage to $ 15 an hour next year, CTV News has learned.
Ford is planning a minimum wage hike that will take effect Jan. 1, sources confirmed to CTV News Toronto on Monday evening.
Former Premier Kathleen Wynne had planned to raise the minimum wage to $ 15 an hour in 2019, but the Progressive Conservatives scrapped that plan in 2018 and said the minimum wage would instead increase based on the rate of inflation from October 2020.
The current minimum wage is $ 14.35 an hour.
The change, first reported by the Toronto Star, is expected to be announced tomorrow.
When the Progressive Conservative government removed the increase, it said minimum wage earners would instead benefit from the new tax credit for low-income individuals and families. However, the Ontario Financial Accountability Office found that the tax credit would benefit only 38% of low-income people, and the salary increase would have been more helpful.
This move would reinstate the change three years later in an election year.
Current Liberal leader Stephen De Duca was quick to respond to the push delayed Monday evening.
“Doug Ford’s 2018 wage freeze cost Ontario minimum wage workers $ 6,200,” Del Duca wrote in a tweet. “Seven months before an election, now that he desperately needs votes, @fordnation is finally ending his fight against minimum wage workers. #onpoli ”
Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath said $ 15 an hour was no longer enough and Ford should raise the minimum wage even higher.
“Doug Ford chose to take $ 5,000 out of the pockets of minimum wage earners by canceling their pay rise,” she wrote in a tweet Monday. “He has to return it. This means a significant increase in the living wage, as $ 15 an hour will no longer be enough. #ONpoli ”
Ryan Mallough, senior director of provincial affairs for Ontario for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), told CP24 companies are shocked by the decision and it was made without any consultation.
“I think this is tough news for a lot of small business owners who have been pummeled in the past 20 months,” Mallough said. “I mean, the situation in Ontario right now – only 37 percent of businesses have normal revenue levels for this time of year. We’re heading into a pivotal holiday season where Confidence is in the same place it was at this time last year when we entered a fourth lockdown.
“You know, we’re hoping for a great holiday season, for people to buy local, to really support (businesses), but that falls right away is going to be a really hard pill for a lot of businesses to swallow.
He said companies were already facing upward pressure on wages due to the pandemic.
“We were already seeing upward pressure on wages in our data,” Mallough said. “There is a labor shortage and many sectors right now and companies had to consider higher wages to be competitive. It’s going to take some of that flexibility away. “
– With files from Colin D’Mello and The Canadian Press
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