The President of the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce is countering claims by an interest group that increasing the minimum wage had no negative effects on job growth.
The group Nipissing Decent Work demonstrated outside the chamber office on Tuesday and said according to Statistics Canada, unemployment in Ontario fell to 5.4 percent in July, its lowest rate since 2000 and half a year later after the minimum wage rose to $14 an hour.
It was protesting the Ford government’s decision to block the minimum wage from rising to $15 an hour.
However Chamber of Commerce President Peter Chirico says Stats-Canada reported that Ontario lost 80,100 jobs in August, with most of them part-time.
“That’s a direct effect of the minimum wage increase,” Chirico said.
Chirico says the chamber talked to its members about how a 28 percent rise in the minimum wage impacted them and the response was cutting hours to employees and reducing hours of operation.
“The chamber has never opposed a $15 hourly minimum wage, but it’s the speed at which it came in,” Chirico said.
Chirico says while at a first glance the rise this year to $14 an hour looked good for employees, it’s really a negative outcome because they are getting less hours.
Chirico said Ontario faces a $15-billion deficit and the only way it’s going to climb out of that hole is for existing businesses to grow and for new ones to emerge.
But he says when Ontario’s neighbours to the south like Michigan and New York get to lower taxes, Ontario appears less appealing with its higher minimum wages.
“We need to make ourselves more attractive, but with a $15 an hour minimum wage, that won’t happen,” Chirico said.