VIEWPOINT: Business owners less likely to vote for Liberal party following minimum wage hike

By Rachel Jaskula

Ontario’s next provincial election takes place in June. And with the recent increase in the Ontario minimum wage, a lot of businesses will be reluctant to support the Liberal party under Premier Kathleen Wynne.

Ontario’s minimum wage increased from $11.60 to $14 per hour on Jan. 1. This increase in wages of nearly 21 per cent has hit many businesses hard.

Some Ottawa restaurants, such as the Clocktower Brew Pubs, have changed their tip-out process due to the increase in wages. Now servers and bartenders will have to give an additional 1.5 per cent to the restaurant’s pooled gratuities for kitchen employees who do not receive tips.

Even though some employees may be benefitting from the increase in hourly wages, a lot of business owners — and workers who’ve  faced clawbacks in benefits, paid breaks or other income — are less likely to back the Liberal party in June’s vote.

The math is pretty simple: Business owners being forced to pay their employees more money are collecting less profit.

Some Tim Hortons franchises have begun to cut workers’ paid breaks and benefits due to the increase in wages – leaving many employees enraged and leading prompting Wynne to spar via Twitter with store owners she labelled bullies.

At some locations, Tim Hortons employees have been told they will no longer receive compensation for workday breaks and will be forced to pay up to 75 per cent of their dental and health benefits.

According to the Great White North Franchise Association, the minimum wage jump will add $243,889 annually to operating costs at each Tim Hortons franchise in Ontario.

That’s a lot of coffee and donuts.

And not only business owners are being hit by the minimum wage increase; a significant number of employees will lose their jobs as a result of the pay hike.

The Bank of Canada estimates that there will be about 60,000 fewer jobs by 2019 as businesses reducing staffing levels in response to the increase in the minimum wage.

The impact on provincial politics is harder to predict.

According to the latest Campaign Research survey, the Liberals under the Wynne government have a public approval rate of 34 per cent, Patrick Brown’s Conservatives are at 35 per cent and Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats at 23 per cent.

The poll also shows that 60 per cent of respondents approve of the minimum wage increase.

However, the number of Ontarians who support the Liberals hasn’t gone up that much over the past few months.

In September, the party had an approval rate of 32 per cent, according to a poll by Ipsos.

Unlike the steep rise in the minimum wage, a two-per-cent increase in approval ratings isn’t a big jump over a period of five months.

So far, the Liberals seem to have gained a small number of supporters, and not necessarily enough to win again.

And the Conservatives have maintained a consistent lead over the Liberals in most polls.

The upshot is that it likely takes more than one piece of legislation to gain dedicated support among the electorate. And the public’s response to the Liberals’ minimum-wage increase appears to be more mixed than the governing party anticipated.

For a clearer sense of Ontarians reaction, we’ll have to wait until June 7.