Windsorites seem to see both the upside and the downside of an increased minimum wage in Ontario.
Premier Kathleen Wynne says raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour by 2019 will make a big difference for Ontarians. The current minimum wage is at $11.40 an hour.
Wynne says the increase will help nearly a third of Ontario workers making less than 15-dollars an hour.
Aatika Zulfiqar is a graduate student and feels the wage bump isn't necessarily fair to those working through post-secondary education to earn better paying jobs.
"We were going for this extra schooling to build up to that and I feel people now are going to have it so much easier without that hard work," says Zulfiqar.
Bill Bush, from Windsor, feels the minimum wage hike is good for low-income earners, but will hurt businesses.
"You're going to see a lot of businesses close, especially small businesses," says Bush. "They can't afford to pay their employees that kind of money."
Fellow Windsorite, Chris Markle, thinks it's natural for the minimum wage to increase.
"It's always going to effect small business, it's always going to have a little bit of a damper temporarily and of course that cost reflection has to go out to the consumer — spade for spade," says Markle.
He feels it's time for a jump.
"You look at the situation in the 1950's — a guy would be at home, his wife stayed at home, two kids, they got an automobile, they got a house, they paid everything off in spades," says Markle. "Now, the cost of living is just going up in spades."
The minimum wage bump comes after a labour review carried out by the province which is leading to some rule changes, including part-timers being entitled to equal pay for the same work as full-time staff.
Employers will also be required to pay staff three hours wages if a worker's shift is cancelled with less than 48 hours notice. Paid vacation is also getting a bump to three weeks after five years with a company, up from two weeks paid vacation.
Another change would see workers entitled to 10 emergency days a year with two of them paid.