Ontario to cap minimum wage at $14 an hour

It was one of his many slogans while on the campaign trail and on Tuesday, the Ford government introduced it’s ‘Making Ontario Open for Business Act.’

The new labour law scraps most of Bill 148 which was created by the previous Liberal government almost one year ago and included bringing minimum wage up to $15 an hour. The PC’s say it resulted in the loss of over 80,000 jobs in August.

The Ford government also plans to get rid of the two-paid emergency leave days. The Retail Council of Canada says some business owners noticed that employees abused the privilege. Employees will still be entitled to 8 emergency days, all unpaid.

Also on the chopping block, paying part-time and casual workers the same wage as a full-time workers performing the same job and the PC’s plan to freeze the minimum wage at $14 an hour.

Local businesses are already welcoming the fact that the minimum wage is staying at $14 because jumping up to $15 in just a couple of months would make things pretty tight financially.

“We don’t have a huge staff but when you raise everyone up that much in one time it’s noticeable, $2.60 increase, so we had to cut some staff and hours,” said small business owner Josephine Hopkins.

Some aspects of Bill 148 will remain, including three weeks vacation for full-time staff who stay with a company for five years and paid leave for victims of sexual or domestic violence.