Businesses could be feeling the sting of Ontario’s latest announcement.

The Timmins Chamber of Commerce’s Nick Stewart says Tuesday’s announcement that minimum wage will go up to $14/hour in January 2018 “flies in the face of reliable, predictable increases tied to the consumer price index, which was something that the Chamber network fought pretty hard for over recent years.”

By January 2019, the minimum wage will hit $15/hour. Currently, minimum wage sits at $11.40.

Stewart says the $3.60 increase is certainly different than an annual inflation increase.

“These are pretty steep costs that are coming at a time where businesses are already facing a pretty significant degree of challenges in terms of rising energy costs, cap and trade and a number of other regulatory problems that the Ontario government has put into place,” he added.

There is concern, Stewart says, for businesses that could end up employing fewer people as a result and raises questions on the effect this will have on the cost of goods and services.

“Especially for smaller businesses who are already struggling to maintain their workforce,” he says.

Lower minimum wages for students under 18 and liquor servers will also rise during the same time frame, but those exemptions to the minimum wage will not be eliminated.

Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne also announced that part-time workers will get equal pay for doing work equal to full-time staff, and that the minimum vacation entitlement will be increased.

Instead of getting two weeks of vacation, workers will be able to get three weeks of paid vacation a year after five years with a company.

The changes to workplace laws will also establish fairer rules for scheduling, including making employers pay three hours of wages if they cancel a shift with fewer than 48 hours notice.

Personal emergency leave would also be expanded. Currently it is only available to employees at companies with more than 50 people, but proposed legislation would ensure all employees in the province get 10 days per year, two of them paid.

Stewart says it seems the province is taking a “one size fits all” approach, and the changes could have an effect on mining and agriculture industries, who have workers on-site for extended periods of time.

“Really any sector where non-standard scheduling is important because simply, there’s no predictability to the nature of that work,” he added.

Stewart indicates they’ve already been in touch with the Ministry of Labour for guidance. He says it’s tough to get a sense of what it will all translate to in the grand scheme of things.

“Our hope is as a Chamber, and as a larger Chamber network is to urge the province to undertake a study of what the real costs of all these changes will mean.”

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(With files from The Canadian Press)

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