Minimum Wage Raised to $11.25 Per Hour Today

Statistics Canada said 10.9 per cent of workers in Ontario earned the minimum wage in 2014, compared to an average of 7.3 per cent of workers in the rest of Canada.

Ontarians making minimum wage will start to see their paycheques grow in October.

The 75-cent hike was the first since 2010, when the Liberal government froze the minimum wage at $10.25 an hour.

The provincial government says most minimum wage earners in Ontario work in accommodation and food, retail trade and agriculture.

Thursday’s increase marks the ninth raise to minimum wage in Ontario since 2003. Supporters of the Fight for $15 and Fairness campaign say the minimum wage must provide a full-time worker with income that is at least 10% above the poverty line. The annual cost of moving to $15 per hour in 2017 is estimated to be $7.9 million overall, with $6.7 million of the cost going to student employees.

The wage will rise to $14 an hour on Oct. 1, 2016, and to $15 on Oct. 1, 2017. “But we also need important changes in employment law to make sure that workers have decent hours, fair scheduling, equal pay, seven days of paid sick leave and the right to form unions to make this happen”.