Increase to $17.60 an hour will take effect October 1
News from the Government of Ontario, followed by a Critique by Niagara At Large reporter/publisher Doug Draper
Posted April 4th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
TORONTO — The Ontario government is increasing the minimum wage from $17.20 to $17.60 an hour effective October 1, 2025, to support workers and businesses. This annualized wage increase is based on the Ontario Consumer Price Index (CPI) of 2.4 per cent and will bring Ontario’s minimum wage to the second highest provincial rate in Canada.
“Our government will continue to have the backs of Ontario workers, investing in skills training and development and helping ensure that work pays,” said David Piccini, Minister of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development. “Ontario’s minimum wage remains one of the highest in the country. Now more than ever, workers and businesses need fair, balanced and predictable wages.”
A worker making the general minimum wage and working 40 hours per week will see an annual pay increase of up to $835.00 as a result of these changes. Under the Employment Standards Act, Ontario’s minimum wage increases annually based on the Ontario CPI, a measure of inflation that represents changes in prices experienced by Ontario consumers.
This increase is just one of the ways the government is supporting Ontario workers and helping make Ontario the best place to work, live and raise a family. Most recently, Ontario passed the Working for Workers Six Act, 2024, which is helping more workers enter the skilled trades, removing barriers to employment, protecting workers and supporting frontline heroes and women at work.
Quick Facts
- About 36 per cent of workers at or below the wage of $17.60 per hour are in retail trade and 24 per cent are in accommodation and food services.
- Over the past seven years, Ontario’s minimum wage has increased from $14 per hour in 2018 to $17.60 later this year.
A Minimum Wage In NiagaraEquals Living Below The Poverty Level
An Afterword & Commentary by Doug Draper at Niagara At Large –
Some of the people making a minimum wage in Niagara are lining up at food banks and living in homeless encampments like this.
At a time when there are significant numbers of people here in Niagara and elsewhere in the province struggling to pay their bills, Ontario’s Ford government is announcing a 40 cent per hour increase in the minimum wage as if it is some kind of magnanimous gesture on its part.
And by the way that increase in the minimum wage, from from $17.20 to $17.60 an hour, doesn’t kick in until October 1st – almost seven months from now.
This is the same Ford government that bowed to the greediest members of the business community by, for a substantial period of time, freezing hikes in the minimum wage that the former provincial Liberal government were planning to bring in.
And it is the same Ford government that, seven years ago, killed a ‘Basic Income Pilot Project’ the former Liberals brought in to see that the income workers across the province have a “living wage” – not a minimum wage that has them struggling just to get by.
Currently, financial experts with an organization called the Ontario Living Wage Network calculates that here in Niagara workers need to make at least $20,90 an hour to pay for food, housing and other necessities of life with a little dignity. That is more than $3,00 above the minimum wage Ford and company are parading in.
Then our political leaders at the provincial and the municipal level sit back and scratch their heads as they wonder why line-ups at food banks are growing and their are growing numbers of people huddled down in homeless encampments.
By they way, there is also almost always a reflexive response from Chambers of Commerce representatives in the Niagara area that raising the minimum wage enough to keep workers above the poverty line is going to hurt businesses that have to pay those wages.
The Chambers reps seem to forget that it is these same workers who, if given enough money to purchase what they need to live some kind of a decent life, are gong to go out in the community and spend that money at local businesses. They won’t be flying their money out of the region like those in the higher income brackets have the luxury to do.
-
Doug Draper, Niagara At Large
For more on a living wage, click on – Living Wage for Niagara 2024-2025 – Niagara Knowledge Exchange
For a CBC report on Ford killing a ‘Basic Income Pilot Project’ for low-income workers, click on – Scrapping basic income pilot ‘horrific,’ former Tory senator says | CBC News
NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views On This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.
“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders
Niagara At Large 