QUEEN’S PARK — Green Party leader and Guelph MPP Mike Schreiner issued the following statement in response to the Making Ontario Open for Business Act:
“I’m alarmed that Premier Ford’s vision for Ontario is one of low wages and free pollution. Is he opening Ontario for business or bringing us back to the way business was done a century ago?
No one should be forced to live on poverty level wages. The Green Party of Ontario continues to call for a minimum wage increase to $15/hour alongside a reduction in payroll taxes for small business by doubling the Employer Health Tax exemption. This would provide immediate cash flow relief to help local businesses create more jobs and pay living wages.
I’m sick and tired of politicians at Queen’s Park using the minimum wage as a wedge issue pitting workers against small businesses. We can support both.
Putting more money in the pockets of workers and small businesses will lead to more local economic activity and job creation.
The Premier’s refusal to consider win-win solutions makes life more unaffordable for low wage workers and does real damage to local economies.
We can open Ontario for business without participating in a race to the bottom.
We can do it by supporting jobs and investment in the $26 trillion global clean economy. We can do it by raising the minimum wage. And we can do it by lowering payroll costs for small businesses.
But the Premier’s anti-climate and anti-local economy agenda hurts job creation and investment while making life harder for minimum wage workers.”