It looks like Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne detests young people who want to have a job.
The Liberal government announced that it proposes to abolish the youth minimum wage for people under 18 and those who serve alcohol. Today, it presently stands at $10.70 for youth and $9.90 for servers. Instead, if approved, teenagers will be paid the full minimum wage: $11.25 per hour.
As of February 2016, the youth unemployment rate is 14.3 percent. When you raise the minimum wage for younger workers then the logical response is a higher youth jobless rate. Moreover, servers will be greatly impacted, especially at a time when the restaurant industry transitions to automation.
In addition to a higher minimum wage for teenagers, the Liberals are also making unionizing easier, making paid sick days mandatory and lowering overtime pay from 44 hours to 40. There is a lot more, but these are some of the big adjustments.
Just in case you don’t follow Ontario politics, there is an election next year. Wynne has an approval rating of just 16 percent and the Liberal government, which has been in power since 2003, has been marred in scandal. If she is able to muster up enough union support as well as support in the Greater Toronto Area and Ottawa then the grits will have another government.
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