Provincial minimum wage rates were increased to their current rates on October 1, 2021. Just one month later, on November 2, 2021, Ontario announced that because the cost of living has increased considerably due to the pandemic, it would introduce legislation that, if passed, would amend the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (ESA) to increase minimum wage rates in the province effective January 1, 2022. On November 4, 2021, Ontario introduced that legislation, Bill 43, Build Ontario Act (Budget Measures), 2021 (Bill 43), which was carried at First Reading.1 The proposed changes to the minimum wage rates are:
- Increase the general minimum wage from $14.35 to $15.00 per hour effective January 1, 2022;
- Eliminate the liquor server minimum wage of $12.55 per hour and entitle liquor servers to the general minimum wage of $15.00 per hour;
- Increase the minimum wage of students under the age of 18 who work 28 hours a week or less when school is in session, or work during a school break or summer holidays from $13.50 to $14.10 per hour;
- Increase the minimum wage of homeworkers (i.e., those who do paid work out of their own homes for employers) from $15.80 to $16.50 per hour; and
- Increase the minimum rate of hunting and fishing guides from $71.75 to $75.00 for working less than five consecutive hours in a day, and from $143.55 to $150.05 for working five or more hours in a day.
Footnote
1 The stages of the legislative process include (1) Notice and placement on the Order Paper; (2) Introduction and first reading; (3) Second reading and referral to a committee; (4) Consideration in committee; (5) Report stage; (6) Third reading and adoption; (7) Consideration and passage by the Senate; and (8) Royal Assent.
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