Ontario raising the minimum wage for workers to woo voters before election in June

BY PAUL JUNOR

Media attention has been directed to the actions of the PC-led Doug Ford government as it prepares to raise the minimum wage on October 1^st, 2022, to $15.50/hr.

The announcement was made in a press release, which can be seen on Ontario’s government, website: newsontario. This will be the third increase in one year. The first increase took effect on October 1^st, 2021, when the general minimum wage was raised to $14.35/ hr, and the second on January 1^st, 2022, when it was raised to $15.00/hr.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford states in the press release, “For many Ontarians, wages haven’t kept up with the increasing cost of living, making it harder than ever to make ends meet. Ontario’s workers are the best anywhere, and they will be at the forefront of building the province. They deserve to have more money in their pockets and the increase we’re announcing today is one more way we are delivering for our workers.”

The website: www.ontario,ca describes certain information about the minimum wage. It notes, “Minimum wage is the lowest wage rate an employer can pay an employee.. Most employees are eligible for minimum wage whether they are full-time, part-time, casual employees, or are paid an hourly rate, commission, piece rate, flat rate or salary.”

It thus applies to most employees in Ontario. Student minimum wage increased to $13.50/ hr in October 2021, then to $14.10/hr on January 1^st and $14.60 on October 1^st, 2022. The Ontario government observes that the next increase in fall is directly related to the Consumer Price Index (CPI).

Monte McNaughton, Minister of Labour, Training and Skills Development states, “Our government is leading the country with unprecedented changes that rebalance the scales and help workers earn bigger paycheques. Raising the minimum wage is part of our workers-first plan to give hundreds of thousands of families a hand up as we build a stronger economy that works for everyone.”

Critics pointed out that it was in 2018 that the PC-led government cancelled the planned minimum wage increase to $15/hr. PressProgress reported on September 28^th, 2018, that Laurie Scott, Minister of Labour stated, “The minimum wage is going to be paused at $14.00 an hour.”

The article noted that “Ford’s move to scrap the minimum wage increase means Ontario’s low-wage workers will see nearly two thousand dollars less in their pockets ($1,899.00) next year than they would have had the $15/hr minimum wage increase gone ahead as planned.”

It was the previous Liberal government of Kathleen Wynne that had announced the planned minimum wage increase.

It took the PC government three years to increase the minimum wage from $14/hr to $14.35/hr. The planned increase to $15/hr on October 1^st, 2022, is still below that $20/hr that labour unions, activists and advocacy groups have been calling for over the years.