43 |Thursday June 8, 2017 | OAKVILLE BEAVER |www.insidehalton.com Raising minimum wage a good, and bad, idea ntario did something both good and bad last week by pro posing an increase to minimum wage. The Liberal govern ment announced plans for Ontario to be the second province to in crease provincial mini mum wage to $15 per hour, the hrst will be Alberta. Ontario's current minimum wage of $11.40 per hour would be increased to $14 an hour on Jan. 1, 2018. The following Janu ary minimum wage would increase to $15 per hour, and in the fu ture will increase at the rate of inflation. In my opinion, Pre mier Kathleen Wynne made a bold move that was overdue. For that, I give her government my vote of confidence. Unfortunately, the implementation of the proposed wage increase lacked in cre ativity and for that, it deserves a failing grade. The battlefield on this issue was equally divided. Those focusing on the needs of workers think the proposed wage increase is justi fied and necessary to allow workers to exist with the high cost of living. On the other side are the voices representing many businesses say ing higher labour costs will result in some jobs being eliminated, and potentially some busi nesses will fail or go out of business. Those traditional responses could have easily been anticipated. The entrepreneurial and capitalistic spirit of business is to cre ate wealth for owners. Economically, one of the byproducts of that endeavor is to provide Reduce Reuse Recycle M y O w n V fc ts FULL V E T E R IN A R Y SERVICES AT AFFORDABLE PRICES S u m m e r B o a r d in g P r o m o t io n FREE C o n s u lta tio n Lorne P a rk ^ A n im ^ a ^ H ^ s p ^ ta i 905.990.VETS(8387) www.myownvets.com O Dollais & Sense P e te r W a tso n Guest Contributor employment for the majority of workers who want a job, and not to own a business. Social responsibil ity would dictate both business owners and workers prosper. The increase of min imum wage narrows the gap of income for those workers who are represented by unions and those who are not. That is fair. In a perfect world, the government should provide enough work er benefi ts that would render the services of unions obsolete. That is not currently the case. The wage increase is good for workers. As it turns out, the wage increase is also good for the govern ment. There are more voting citizens who re ceive a wage than own a business, so the polit ical ramifications of in creased wages should bode well for the Lib eral government in fu ture elections. The problem with the increase in mini mum wage is it falls entirely on the busi ness community. There were other options that could've been added to this initiative that would have provided a better and more bal anced approach. For example, busi nesses, and particu larly small businesses, that employ the lion's share of the workforce, have become bogged down by bureaucratic regulatory processes pushed on them by the government. The government should have made con cessions to business to make a wage increase a win-win. One idea would be to streamline and simplify the regu latory pressures that most businesses com plain about. Another option would be to imple ment some sort of tax reduction to business owners. The logic would be businesses have to be more efficient now that they have increased labour costs. A tax re duction would mean the provincial govern ment would have to be more efficient because there would be less tax revenue coming in ev ery year. The increase in min imum wage is socially responsible. That was the easy part. As stated above the government gets full marks. Pushing the entire obligation of increased wage onto businesses is unfair. Businesses deserve concessions and our provincial government should have provided some offsetting benefit to business owners. -- submitted by Peter Watson of Peter Watson Investments and Aligned Capital Partners Inc., MBA, CFP, R.FP, CIM, FCSI., Certified Financial Planner Ontario Savings Bonds. Bonds that build Ontario. Build a stronger future for yourself - and for Ontario. Ontario Savings Bonds are a safe, flexible investment guaranteed by the province. They're a perfect way to celebrate Ontario's 150th anniversary. Ask for them by name where you bank or invest. A v a ila b le J u n e 1 - 2 1 . FIXED-RATE BOND STEP-UP RATE BOND Enjoy a set competitive interest rate for the duration of the bond's term. 3-year Fixed-Rate Bond 10-year Fixed-Rate Bond VARIABLE-RATE BOND 1.00% 2.15% The competitive interest rate continues to rise each year over its 5-year term. You can redeem every six months. 1s t year 2n dyear 3rdyear 4th year 5thyear 0.60% 0.80% 1.05% 1.30% 1.65% To remain competitive, a new rate is offered annually over the 3-year term. You can redeem annually. Current Rate 0.65% ontario.ca/savingsbonds · 1-888-212-BOND (2663) · TTY: 1-800-263 Paid for by the Government of Ontario t·*" Ontario o > .