Ontario will enhance minimal wage to $15 per hour beginning in January, CTV Information Toronto has realized.
Sources say Premier Doug Ford will make the official announcement on Tuesday and the change will come into impact on Jan. 1.
Sources stated the minimal wage will proceed to rise by the speed of inflation after the increase to $15 per hour.
In October 2020, the provincial minimal wage elevated from $14 per hour to $14.25 per hour.
Earlier than that, the minimal wage had not elevated in Ontario since January 2018, when it went up from $11.60 per hour to $14 per hour.
After being elected in 2018, Ford scrapped laws that may have pushed the minimal wage to $15.
On Monday, NDP Chief Andrea Horwath grilled Ford in Query Interval about that call.
“The premier’s buddies by no means want to fret about placing meals on the desk or placing a roof over the top of their youngsters,” Horwath stated.
She stated minimal wage employees would have misplaced out on $5,300 as a result of the hourly fee did not go as much as $15 per hour in 2018.
Ford responded by speaking about fuel costs after which stated extra folks have jobs since he took over from the Liberal authorities.
Dan Kelly, President and CEO of the Canadian Federation of Impartial Enterprise, blasted Ford on Twitter Monday, saying that rising minimal wage will harm struggling companies.
“I may need thought Ford would let small companies have a shot at surviving the pandemic earlier than additional pandering to Ontario’s unions,” Kelly stated.
He stated the rise will come simply after the “lengthy, chilly post-holiday season” and that as of proper now, solely 37 per cent of Ontario small companies are again to regular sale ranges from the pandemic.
Liberal Chief Steven Del Duca stated Monday Ford is just rising minimal wage due to subsequent yr’s eleciton.
“Now that he is determined for votes, Ford’s lastly ending his combat in opposition to minimal wage employees,” Del Duca wrote on Twitter.
