Ontario Plans To Raise The Minimum Wage Again This Year & Here's What You Need To Know
It could go up October 1!
Ontario legislature building.
The Ontario government is looking to bump up the minimum wage rate to $15.50 an hour.
In an announcement on April 5, the Ford government revealed its plans to boost the general rate up by 50 cents in the fall, starting on October 1, 2022 — not long after the provincial election in June. This follows the recent increase in January, which saw the general minimum wage go up to $15 per hour.
If approved, full-time workers earning minimum wage could see an annual raise of $1,768, according to the government. Liquor server workers who also work 40 hours a week could see a yearly raise of $5,512.
"Ontario's workers are the best anywhere, and they will be at the forefront of building the province. They deserve to have more money in their pockets and the increase we're announcing today is one more way we are delivering for our workers," Premier Doug Ford said in the announcement.
Come October, students under 18 will see their wages go up from $14.10 an hour to $14.60 an hour.
Hunting, fishing and wildness guides will also start to earn $77.60 each day when they work less than five straight hours a day and $155.25 per day when they work for longer than five consecutive hours.
Homeworkers will also see their hourly wages go up from $16.50 per hour to $17.05.
If the Working for Workers Act 2 gets passed, the minimum wage could be expanded to digital platform workers for their active hours worked online, which the government said is something that no other province in the country has done.
"Raising the minimum wage is part of our workers-first plan to give hundreds of thousands of families a hand up as we build a stronger economy that works for everyone," Labour minister Monte McNaughton said.
While minimum wage rates are set to go up in the fall, it is still shy of what the living wage rates are for the province.