The minimum wage in Ontario is increasing to $17.20 an hour beginning on October 1.
Based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) where inflation metrics are used to calculate changes in prices for Ontarians, the 3.9 per cent boost will allow minimum wage workers to earn an additional 65 cents an hour. The current minimum wage is set at $16.55. Those who work 40 hours per week at the province’s minimum wage may earn up to an additional $1,355 per year.
The raise will also impact those 18 and under who earn student wages, bringing the new wage to $16.20 per hour.
When asked about the potential impact on the Prescott-Russell communities, John Candie Executive Director of the Prescott & Russell Development Corporation (PRDC) stated that the increase amounts to an additional $25 per week for the average person working full-time, 35 to 40 hours per week, “which is very little.”
Candie continued, “Since rents are out of control all across Canada, it is hard for workers earning minimum wage to make ends meet. The cost of living in Ontario is higher than the Canadian average. Any additional tax (ie: Carbon tax) that the government imposes on small businesses has an impact and it’s the consumer that ends up paying the price.”
As of 2023, a total of 935,600 workers earned $17.20 per hour or less in Ontario. Approximately 35 per cent of these workers were in retail trade and 24 per cent in accommodation and food services. With the new rate, Ontario’s new minimum wage will be the second-highest provincial rate in Canada, only trailing behind British Columbia, which has a minimum wage set at $17.40 an hour.
Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development David Piccini explained, “Our government is helping nearly one million workers earn more money for themselves and their families, helping families offset the rising cost of living, so that Ontario continues to be the best place to live, work and raise a family.”
The general increase in the cost of living, particularly with higher rental costs and food prices has continued to create and fuel anxieties among Ontarians trying to get by.
For Candie, “the little increase of 65 cents will not prevent more and more people using food banks since food becomes second after paying the rent, electricity, heating” and so on in most cases.
Pertaining to local businesses, Candie would like to see federal and provincial taxes be lowered and remove the red tape to give “businesses additional leverage to invest in the local economy, therefore creating new sustainable employment opportunities.”
