An increase of minimum wage to $15 bucks an hour that was supposed to start next year has had the breaks put on it by Ontario’s PC government.
Labour Minister Laurie Scott said Wednesday the minimum wage will remain at $14 an hour rather than rising to $15 as planned by the previous Liberal government.
The minister would not say whether the minimum wage would eventually go up, saying only that the government was conducting consultations on the issue.
Ontario’s minimum wage increased from $11.60 to $14 an hour on Jan. 1, which got complaints from some businesses and prompted in certain cases the raising of prices and cutting of staff hours and employee benefits to accommodate the changes.
“The increase of 20 per cent this year was a lot for businesses to absorb so we’re putting a pause on the minimum wage,” Scott said. The minister also added that this move will allow businesses to have the chance to “catch up” and that there would be tax breaks for low-income people in Ontario in the future.
She also said the government was reviewing the labour reform legislation brought in by the Liberals, which included the wage increase.
Scott said the province would likely make a decision on the fate of those reforms sometime this fall.
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