The $15 minimum wage hasn’t been implemented yet in Ontario, but some companies are already warning about job cuts and higher prices, the inevitable effects of a higher minimum wage.
With the $15 minimum wage scheduled to be instituted in Ontario in the next couple of years, Loblaw, the biggest grocery and drugstore company in Canada today, said on Wednesday that its expenses will spike by $190 million and ultimately hurt its bottom line.
“We are flagging a significant set of financial headwinds and the organization is mobilizing all of its resources to see whether or not it can close that gap. At this point, we don’t know the answer.” Loblaw chair and CEO Galen Weston Jr. told analysts during a quarterly earnings conference call. “We have a lot of work ahead of us as we’re still assessing the extent to which we can mitigate these headwinds.”
Alberta is expected to raise its minimum wage to $15 next year, and Quebec is undergoing healthcare reform pertaining to prescription drugs, which is also believed to impact businesses.
It is going to be a rough time for Loblaw over the next little while, especially with Amazon making a play in the grocery market.
Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne still thinks that she is doing the right thing by hurting the poor, the unskilled, the youth and the uneducated.
Here is how you fight the typical minimum wage arguments:
Leave a Comment