$8.75 at the very least

Minimum wage rises today to highest in Canada -- but critics say it should be $10

The province's lowest wage earners will get an extra 75 cents an hour starting today, but the hike isn't without concern.

Despite a looming economic slowdown, the Ontario government is following through on the first of three annual 75 cents increases to bring the minimum wage to $10.25 an hour by 2010.

Today's increase, which raises it to $8.75 an hour, has some minimum-wage earners smiling, though they realize it could come at a cost to the consumer.

"I think it's great. I mean, it's more pay," said Ramji Mahendran, 19, who works for minimum wage at a downtown Esso station. "The thing is, though, even if the minimum wage increases, prices increase too, so it doesn't make a difference."

Mahendran said he understands employers who now have to pay staff more may have to raise prices as well.

"It all evens out in the end," he said.

Since deciding to increase the minimum wage in the 2007 budget, the government has faced criticism from both sides -- those who think it will hurt businesses, and those who would like to see it raised to $10 or more immediately.

"We think it's important for us to continue to proceed in a thoughtful, balanced, responsible (way)," Premier Dalton McGuinty told the Sun yesterday. "We've laid out a number of increases over a course of time.

"Some people think we're going too quickly; some people think we're going way too slow. We think we've got it just about right."

Satinder Chera, the Ontario director of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, is worried about the impact on the economy.

Paying higher wages forces employers to cut benefits and curtail hiring, which means there will be fewer jobs to go around, Chera said.

"No one begrudges giving those that are struggling to make ends meet a way forward," he said. "But we've always said to the government that there are other options."

One option, he said, includes training workers for better jobs, including the thousands of jobs that go unfilled for months because employers can't find suitable candidates.

"The current rules that are in place for skills training actually make it more difficult for businesses to hire those individuals and to train them," he said. "We're actually handcuffing ourselves."

NDP MPP Cheri DiNovo, who calls $8.75 per hour a "shameful joke," has promised to introduce a private member's bill tomorrow to increase the minimum wage to $10.25 immediately.

After today's hike, Ontario's minimum wage will be the highest in the country.

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WHAT THE PROVINCES PAY

Ontario is not the only province increasing its minimum wage this spring. Here is a list of hourly minimum wages in each province after increases:

- Ontario -- $8.75 (effective today)

- Saskatchewan -- $8.60 (effective May 1)

- Yukon -- $8.58 (effective tomorrow)

- Quebec -- $8.50 (effective May 1)

- Manitoba -- $8.50 (effective tomorrow)

- Nunavut -- $8.50

- Alberta -- $8.40 (effective tomorrow)

- N.W.T. -- $8.25

- Nova Scotia -- $8.10 (effective May 1)

- B.C. -- $8

- Newfoundland -- $8 (effective tomorrow)

- New Brunswick -- $7.75 (effective today)

- P.E.I. -- $7.75 (effective May 1)

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It still seems low... $8.75 x 40 hours = 350... x 4 weeks a month = $ 1400/month... take away taxes, even less!!!  I imagine it's hard to make it in a big city like Toronto where living is expensive.  I agree with the people saying minimum wage should go up to $10/hour.