Ontario households squeezed by worst income growth in Canada

Despite paying high prices for everything from hydro to housing, Ontario households faced the slowest median income growth in the nation according to 2016 Census data from Statistics Canada.

“This report shows what families already know – they’re being squeezed,” said NDP Economic Development critic Catherine Fife. “Household costs have gone up under Kathleen Wynne, but wages are being held back.

“It’s clear that Wynne doesn’t get what families are dealing with today. It seems like she doesn’t remember what it feels like to open her own hydro bill or worry about whether your kids will ever be able to afford to move out.”

Of the 152 Canadian cities included in the report, nine saw median incomes fall. Eight of those nine are Ontario cities. Windsor topped that list, with household incomes dropping 6.4 per cent between 2005 and 2015, and London was not far behind – with a 2.1% decline in median income during that same time period. 

Fife said that not only have families been let down by Wynne, but that the continuation of cuts and underfunding in services people count on threaten to squeeze families even further, like paying more out-of-pocket for public transit or home nursing care.

“Ontario families need a government that thinks less about itself and its party and more about how everyday families are doing,” said Fife.

“It’s troubling that Conservative Patrick Brown opposes raising the minimum wage, choosing to stand with big corporations instead of regular Ontario families. He also stood with Mike Harris as he cut 6,000 nurses and closed 28 hospitals. He stood with Tim Hudak as he announced a plan to lay off 100,000 workers. And he stood with the Conservatives when they pitched the privatization of both Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation. He needs to come clean on what he’d cut – because families have an important choice to make about which leader will come after Kathleen Wynne: Andrea Horwath or Patrick Brown.”