The Liberal government pledged to raise minimum wage from $14 per hour to $15 per hour in the new year.
PC leader Doug Ford has said he will scrap the extra $1 per hour increase in favour of a 0 per cent income tax on minimum wage earners, which his party estimates as a $500-million cost to the province.
But according to NDP leader Andrea Horwath, that does minimum wage earners a disservice.
“It’s very clear that the tax cut that he’s proposing is going to rip people off by about a thousand dollars as opposed to the $15 minimum wage increase,” Horwath said.
For minimum wage earners, that could be the bottom line in the election.
“I would like the wage to increase to $15 and I’m going to vote for a candidate who is going to commit to that,” said Stephanie Jenner, a Kitchener mother who earns minimum wage.
Ontario’s last minimum wage increase took effect in January, when it rose from $11.25 per hour to $14 per hour.
