Ontario Workers and Minimum Wage

minimum wage: The reason is that at $11 an hour, the new rate still leaves about 16 per cent of Ontario minimum wage workers living below the poverty line. Indeed, it falls short of the $11.50 peak it reached, adjusting for inflation, way back in the 1970s, according to The Star. Close to one in 10 Ontario workers are paid minimum wage, more than double the rate a decade ago and You might wonder why so soon after Queens Park raised Ontarios minimum wage to $11 last month, a large group of activists staged a protest at Torontos Yonge-Dundas Square to demand still more. Across Canada, 4.3 million of us live in poverty, and the overwhelming majority of those fellow Canadians work. The widening gap between rich and poor is not a uniquely U.S. crisis among mature economies, as is often thought. Persistent low pay is the leading culprit, and the recent Ontario minimum-wage hike doesnt help nearly enough in reducing that economic hardship. (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.