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According to a new study by the Montreal Economic Institute, former premier Kathleen Wynne sacrificed the jobs of 56,100 Ontario workers, aged 15 to 24, when she hiked the provincial minimum wage by 21% to $14-an-hour last January.

Not only that, but in the restaurant industry, where 70% of the workforce earns at or near the minimum wage, the price of meals rose 5.6% in Ontario, more than three times faster than in other provinces, over the same period.

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Given those numbers, study author Alexandre Moreau said Premier Doug Ford’s cancellation of Wynne’s promise to increase the minimum wage to $15-an-hour on Jan. 1, 2019 was, “from an economic point of view, the only decision the Ontario government could make.”

Photo by Christopher Katsarov / THE CANADIAN PRESS

Moreau’s findings are consistent with numerous other studies, including one by the independent, non-partisan Ontario Financial Accountability Office, which in September, 2017predicted a net loss of at least 50,000 jobs because of Wynne’s minimum wage hikes.