Skip to main content

Ontario NDP promise to raise minimum wage to $20 per hour if elected

Share
QUEEN'S PARK -

Ontario's New Democratic Party is promising to boost minimum wage to $20 per hour over the next five years in a major campaign promise ahead of the June provincial election.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath revealed that, if elected, her party would raise minimum wage by a dollar a year between 2022 and 2026 and said the increase is "long past due."

“The price of everything is going up – from gas to housing to hydro bills — and with Doug Ford’s low-wage policy, everyone is feeling the squeeze. Minimum wage earners are working their tails off and still can’t get ahead of the bills," Horwath said.

The NDP pre-election promise comes weeks after Ford announced his government would raise minimum wage to $15 per hour on Jan 1. 2022 three years after schedule. 

Unifor President Jerry Dias -- who supported Ford's minimum wage increase -- said $15 per hour wasn't enough to cover the rising costs of living and said workers in a city like Toronto need $22 an hour to keep up. 

Horwath acknowledged the province wouldn't be able to raise wages in "one felled swoop" but said her party is committing to gradually increase pay for low-income earners. 

The NDP's schedule would see minimum wage rise to $16 on Oct. 1, 2022, $17 on May 1, 2023, $18 on May 1, 2024, $19 on May 1, 2025, and $20 on May 1, 2026, before indexing wages to inflation beyond 2026.

Horwath said to help businesses with the rise in minimum wage an NDP government would offer industry-specific support such as lowering alcohol prices for bars and restaurants. 

The next provincial election is on June 2, 2022.  

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'

The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.

Stay Connected