TORONTO - Premier Kathleen Wynne says Ontarians won't have to wait long to hear how much the government plans to boost the province's minimum wage.
Sources say the minority Liberals will move later this week to raise minimum wage, which has been stuck at 10 dollars and 25 cents an hour since 2010.
A special advisory panel yesterday called for changes to be linked to the inflation rate, and to give businesses four months warning of any increases.
It recommends the minimum wage be changed April 1st each year, with advance notice December 1st of exactly how much it will go up.
Wynne said yesterday in Ottawa that the government has a pretty good idea of where it wants to peg minimum wage and will have a number "very soon."
A study last fall showed the number of minimum wage workers in Ontario more than doubled since the Liberals came to power in 2003 to nine per cent of the workforce in 2011.
The Ontario Convenience Stores Association says it likes seeing future increases in the minimum wage tied to the inflation rate.
But Deena Ladd of the Workers Action Centre notes a full-time minimum wage earner falls 25 per cent below the poverty line, and needs more than a cost-of-living increase.
