Ontario’s Minister of Labour says that Ontario is open for business after announcing a new act.
Earlier in the week, the Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP and Minister of Labour, Laurie Scott was involved in announcing the “making Ontario open for business act.” This announcement saw several changes to a Bill introduced by the former Liberal Government. The most notable and controversial change was the freezing of Ontario’s minimum wage at $14 an hour until 2020.
Scott spoke with the My Haliburton Now Newsroom about the announcement. Scott says that the Ontario government felt that the changes to the bill would lessen the burdens on Ontario business people while preserving the benefits. “Businesses that have told us stories after stories of how hard it is to do business in the province of Ontario,” says Scott, referring to the reasoning behind the changes.
Scott explained that she had heard through the campaign that small businesses in the Haliburton area were forced to close their doors as a result of the higher wages being paid to their staff. “it reflects a lot of what I heard in Haliburton County,” Scott said trying to ease the minds of her constituents. She also says that she heard of businesses reducing their staff hours, closing in the winter time and even laying off their staff to accommodate the change in minimum wage.
“Small businesses are our main job producers,” Scott expressed, adding that the previous government’s legislation was crippling to the economy in Haliburton County.
The announcement of these changes was met with some controversy as the constituency office of Scott was vandalized, as well, Premiere Ford received death threats over the announcement.
