It should be welcomed news for those 500 thousand or so workers in Ontario making minimum wage.
Premier Kathleen Wynne has announced that Ontario’s minimum wage will be increased to $11 an hour effective June 1st.
It’s the first change in the rate since 2010, when the Liberal government froze the minimum wage at $10.25 an hour.
Wynne Liberals’ will introduce legislation to tie future increases to the rate of inflation – which was expected following a key recommendation from an expert panel.
The new rate will be announced April 1 each year and take effect October 1st.
Anti-poverty activists and labour groups had been lobbying for an increase in the rate to $14 an hour.
But Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi said that would be “too much” for businesses to handle and could prompt some to cut jobs.
The Ontario Convenience Stores Association says 11 dollars is better than 14 dollars an hour.
But Francesca Dobbyn — the Executive Director of the United Way of Bruce Grey — says 11 dollars is too low….
Our poll question this week asked if the minimum wage in Ontario should go up?
So far, 70 per cent — or 285 respondents — believe the minimum wage should go to $14 dollars an hour.
30 per cent — or 124 respondents — say no, it will mean some jobs will be lost.
Some respondents said, ” I don’t know about $14 per hour but it should be at least $12.00 an hour. Also I think the government should be giving bigger tax breaks to the small businesses and the lower income people.”
And ” If we are committed to eradicating child poverty in Ontario, we must raise the minimum wage. Families need to be helped out of poverty; children’s futures depend on this.”
While others said, “our provincial economy is too fragile to introduce additional cost to small business. Trending towards full time employment with benefits, as opposed to casual employment, would be a safer bet.”