Minimum-wage hike hurts small business

Increasing Ontario’s minimum wage to $14 an hour in 2018 and then $15 an hour in 2019 will be hard on small businesses like mine. The government-mandated minimum-wage increase for 2017 will cost my business $1,000 annually. The 2018 increase will raise that to $8,500 a year and then $12,000 in 2019. This increase is going to happen practically overnight.

Over the course of five years, that’s more than $50,000 in unanticipated payroll. This doesn’t include any incremental mandated increases. How does a small business absorb that? Businesses budget and plan for the future. The government needs to consider this.

Over five years, the hydro costs for our business have almost doubled, from $70,000 to $136,000.

As a proud owner who wants to expand my business by investing capital to generate more revenue and provide a better customer experience, it’s frustrating to watch the government take it all away repeatedly.

This unprecedented wage increase is going to force the student worker out of the job market, as higher wages are going to mean greater demands by employers on young workers, who will need to find a way to compete with more mature, skilled minimum-wage hires. It is also going to put the squeeze on higher-paid employees.

Increasing the minimum wage will force businesses to raise prices on consumer goods, much to the chagrin of minimum-wage earners.

How can the government overlook the simple economics of this rollout? Shame on our elected officials who support this. Geoff Gerrish, small-business owner, Chatham-Kent