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DBOT applauds Ford’s intent to freeze the minimum wage

March 23, 2018   ·   0 Comments

Written By: Jasen Obermeyer

Ontario’s new Progressive Conservative leader has announced that if he becomes premier he will freeze the minimum wage and eliminate income tax for cash-strapped workers in the province, subjects the Dufferin Board of Trade (DBOT) has voiced their opinions on.

Newly elected PC leader Doug Ford recently announced that if the Tories win the June 7 provincial election, he would freeze the minimum wage at $14 instead of seeing it continue to rise to $15 next year.

The former Toronto city councillor also announced he wants to eliminate income tax for those making less than $30,000, although as premier he would only have jurisdiction over the provincial income tax.

Nick Lumia, DBOT’s communications and research coordinator, told the Citizen that they still stand against the minimum wage increase, as it was “too much too fast” and “caused unintended consequences for our local small businesses here across the board, and it ends up hurting the most vulnerable in our society instead of helping them.”

Asked about Mr. Ford’s recent announcement, Mr. Lumia says they are still calling for policy to be implemented with an overall understanding of the economic impact.

“What we’d like to see is for any changes made at this (provincial level) with regards made to the minimum wage that they’d be put through a proper economic analysis so that we’d know what the impact will be on our business community.”

As for the income tax cut, he said it might benefit the business community, but he still calls for proper analysis and policy that is informed.

“We need to understand how these things affect the overall economy. We can’t just make these decisions without looking at the economic impact of them.”

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