Ontario’s planning another minimum wage hike & here’s what you need to know

Ontario is looking at raising minimum wage once again. In January, the provincial government raised general minimum wage to $15, and now it is looking to raise to it $15.50 per hour starting October 1, 2022.

According to the Ontario government, this will help workers keep up with rising costs and inflation.

“For many Ontarians, wages haven’t kept up with the increasing cost of living, making it harder than ever to make ends meet,” said Premier Doug Ford in a release. “Ontario’s workers are the best anywhere, and they will be at the forefront of building the province.”

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If passed, the province said this “would build on this action by expanding this minimum wage to digital platform workers for active hours worked – something no other province in Canada has done,” and this is what the rates would look like:

General: $15.50 per hour, a raise from $15 per hour
Students under 18: $14.60 per hour, a raise from $14.10 per hour
Hunting, fishing and wilderness guides: $77.60 per day, a raise from $75, when working less than five consecutive hours in a day; and $155.25 per day, a raise from $150.05, when working five or more hours in a day
Homeworkers (those who do paid work out of their own homes for employers): $17.05 per hour, a raise from $16.50 per hour

The wage increase is planned for the fall, which would be following the provincial election in June.

Andrea Horwath and the Ontario NDP’s minimum wage promise include an increase to $16 on Oct. 1, 2022, and an annual increase until 2026, reaching $20 per hour then.

The Ontario Liberal Party’s leader Steven Del Duca has also promised to replace the minimum wage with a regional living wage starting at $16.