Ontario minimum wage increased by 35 cents, well below Toronto's living wage standard
· Toronto Sun
See more Toronto Sun on Google — save as a Preferred Source
The Ontario government increased its minimum wage rate by 35 cents on Thursday, raising it from $17.60 to $17.95 an hour.
Visit tr-sport.bond for more information.
“Ontario’s workforce is our greatest advantage, and their hard work, skill and dedication keep our province moving forward every day,” said Trevor Jones, Minister of Labour, in a media release.
“As families and workers face higher costs and businesses navigate changing trade environments, today’s minimum wage increase will help workers keep pace with global economic uncertainty while maintaining a predictable approach that businesses can plan for.”
Under the Employment Standards Act, Ontario’s minimum wage rate is adjusted annually on Oct. 1. The government says this increase will benefit more than 700,000 workers across the province.
This annual increase is tied to the Ontario Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 1.9% and marks the second-highest rate among provinces. The government says a worker earning the minimum wage and working 40 hours per week will see an annual pay increase of about $728.
CPI represents changes in prices as experienced by consumers. It measures price change by comparing, through time, the cost of a fixed basket of goods and services. Goods and services in that ‘basket’ include food, shelter, transportation and household expenses.
It’s ‘not enough’
But some advocates for a higher minimum wage say the increase is not enough to maintain the basics.
“Workers across the province will take home a little more pay, but not enough to provide their families with a better standard of living,” said a report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. “The new rate is well below a living wage and, in most cities, further below than it was last year.”
According to the CCPA study, the current living wage rate in Toronto is $27.20, $9.25 higher than the new minimum wage.
“We need to look at the bigger picture: the gap between the minimum wage and what workers actually need to live and support themselves and their families, and that gap still is significant and not keeping up with the rates Ontarians need to have a living wage,” said a spokesperson at Living Wage Ontario.
According to the CCPA, a living wage “lifts workers and their families out of poverty by supplying employers with an hourly wage that they must pay in a specific geographic area so that a family can make modest ends meet. Next to the minimum wage, which remains inadequate, the living wage is a powerful tool to fight working poverty.”
The minimum wage is also rising in five other provinces, with P.E.I. boosting its minimum to $17.30, Nova Scotia moving its floor to $17, the Manitoba minimum going up to $16.40, and the Saskatchewan minimum now at $15.70. Nunavut lifted its minimum wage on Sept. 1 and leads the country at $20.17 an hour.
Alberta maintains the country’s lowest minimum wage at $15 an hour. Alberta hasn’t increased its minimum wage since 2019.