TORONTO - Ontario's lowest paid workers will get a raise this year when the $10.25 an hour minimum wage is hiked for the first time in four years.
Sources say a special panel set up to look at ways of adjusting the minimum wage will recommend it be tied to the inflation rate, and that businesses get four months warning of any increases.
The panel did not say what the new rate should be, but sources say the minimum wage will be increased retroactively back to 2010 based on the rate of inflation since then.
Business groups warn a hike in the minimum wage will only hurt the very people it's supposed to help by driving up costs, resulting in fewer jobs.
However, the Ontario Chamber of Commerce last year called for future changes in the minimum wage to be tied to the rate of inflation.
Premier Kathleen Wynne says businesses and individuals should be pleased at having a more predictable system in place.
