CORNWALL, Ontario – On Tuesday, Ontario’s Premier Kathleen Wynne announced her government’s intentio to raise the hourly minimum wage in the province to $15 an hour by 2019.
A study conducted by Purdue University in 2015 suggested that a $15 an hour minimum wage would raise the cost of products at fast food restaurants in the United States by 4.3 percent.
To put that in perspective, a Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese at a Canadian McDonald’s costs $4.79. A 4.3 percent increase on $4.79 is $0.21.
Alex de Wit, the Executive Director of Cornwall’s Social Development Council (SDC) said that he hoped this move would have a positive impact on Cornwall.
“It is important for people to be able to buy the thing that they’re selling because then they can reinvest in their community,” he said.
He suggested that this wage increase likely would go further in Cornwall because of the City’s low electricity costs when compared to the Counties and other parts of Ontario.
de Wit also pointed out that Cornwall, on average, has lower wages than the rest of the province, making the impact in Cornwall even more significant.
“Fifteen dollars is probably close to the average calculation for living,” wages de Wit explained when asked why that figure was chosen.
The current minimum wage in Ontario is $11.40 an hour. By 2018, the minimum wage will be increased to $14 and will reach $15 by 2019.
Alberta is the province with the highest minimum wage in the country at $12.20 an hour and the territory of Nunavut has the highest minimum wage of either the provinces or the territories at $13 an hour.
In September 2016, the Alberta government passed its own legislation to raise the minimum wage in that province to $15 on hour, which is scheduled to take effect October 2018.
The Ontario government’s proposed legislation also includes other labour reforms such as three weeks vacation for employees who remain with the same company for five years, and 10 days of emergency leave.
Earlier in May, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce (OCC) sent a letter to the Ontario government warning them of their concerns with these possible changes.
“Government cannot legislate prosperity,” wrote Interim OCC President Richard Koroscil. “Rather, the implementation of some of the policy options being considered would have the perverse effect of discouraging investment and eliminating jobs, thereby diminishing economic opportunities in Ontario. Politics cannot drive decision-making, evidence must.”
