Ontario NDP promise to raise minimum wage to $20 per hour if elected
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
Canada's most wanted fugitive arrested in P.E.I. in connection with Toronto homicide
A suspect in a fatal shooting in Toronto’s east end last summer has been arrested in Charlottetown, just one week after he topped a list of Canada’s most wanted fugitives.
BREAKING Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
Concerns about plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall plexiglass barriers.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Toddler of Phoenix first responder dies after bounce house goes airborne
A two-year-old child died after a strong gust of wind sent the bounce house he was in airborne and into a neighbouring lot in central Arizona, the Pinal County Sheriff's Office said.
Plane overshoots runway at airport in St. John's, N.L., no injuries reported
Investigators from the Transportation Safety Board of Canada are headed to St. John's, N.L., after a plane overshot a runway at the city's airport this afternoon.
A teen was found buried in a basement in New York. An engraved ring helped police learn her identity two decades later
For more than two decades, the unknown victim was nicknamed "Midtown Jane Doe" because she was found in the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. But this week, investigators finally revealed her identity.