Hourly raise coming ‘too soon,’ PC leader says

Patrick Brown calls premier’s plan an election ‘distraction’

Too much, too soon.

That’s the message from Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown on Premier Kathleen Wynne’s plan to raise the hourly minimum wage from $11.40 to $15 within the next 18 months.

“Do I think we should have a 32per-cent increase immediately without a cost-benefit analysis? No,” Brown told reporters at Queen’s Park on Wednesday.

“The way that the premier has announced it is too fast, too quick. It’s not giving proper notice to our job creators . . . so, yes, I have significant concerns,” he said. Brown’s comments came one day after Wynne announced the minimum wage would jump to $14 on Jan. 1, 2018, six months before the next provincial election, and then $15 in 2019.

“I’m sure, right now, Kathleen Wynne is looking for distractions for the next election,” said the Tory leader.

“She doesn’t want it to be about hydro, because she’s made a mess of it; she doesn’t want it to be about ethics, because this government’s faced five OPP investigations; she doesn’t want it to be about the deficit, because now the FAO (Financial Accountability Officer) is saying we have a giant deficit, so, of course, she’s looking for distractions,” he said.

“I get that Ontario right now is unaffordable. I get that it is difficult for people to live in Ontario right now — and frankly that’s Kathleen Wynne’s mess from the last 14 years — but do you need to do this 32-per-cent hike immediately? Or can you pace it out?”

His concerns have been echoed by groups such as the Ontario Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

Wynne emphasized that she is more than happy to campaign for a $15-an-hour minimum wage during the June 7, 2018 election.

“Fairness and a strong economy are absolutely going to be election issues because . . . Government exists to put those conditions in place and to work to build a strong economy and build a fair economy,” the premier said.

“I can only assume that Patrick Brown opposes the plan that we’ve brought forward. The Conservative Party has opposed every minimum wage increase that we’ve brought forward and we’ve raised the minimum wage 10 times in this . . . province (since 2003),” he said.

“Will a fair Ontario be an election issue? I hope so, because that’s why I’m in politics. I’m in politics to build fairness, because the market’s not going to do that alone. And that’s why government has a responsibility to step up.”