The New Democrats have finally tipped their hand on the minimum wage, almost a month after the minority Liberals unveiled a plan to hike the hourly rate to $11.

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Tuesday her party would also like to see the wage raised from $10.25 to $11.

While the Liberals want future increases pegged to inflation, Horwath differed slightly, urging the wage go to $11.50 an hour on June 1, 2015, and $12 an hour one year later.

That falls well short of the $14 an hour that many anti-poverty activists have been demanding.

At the same time, the NDP wants small business tax rates cut from 4.5 per cent to 4 per cent this June, 3.5 per cent in 2015, and 3 per cent in 2016.

“We know that the minimum wage needs to increase. We want to make sure that those increases don’t come at too sharp or steep of a rate so that small businesses will be negatively impacted,” said Horwath.

“That is why we put this very balanced plan forward,” she said at Queen’s Park.

Even though the New Democrats had campaigned on an $11-an-hour minimum wage in the 2011 election, the party has been strangely silent on the matter since Premier Kathleen Wynne pledged the same rate on Jan. 29.

Labour Minister Yasir Naqvi formalized that wage on Tuesday, announcing a regulation had been changed to raise it to $11 per hour as of June 1.

Naqvi also tabled legislation tying future increases to the consumer price index and then rounding them out to the nearest nickel. If the rate stays at around 1 per cent, that would mean next year’s wage would be $11.10.

“Every year there will be an increase in the minimum wage based on the cost of living,” the minister said, adding tying to CPI is “predictable” for business.

He urged the New Democrats to support a measure the Progressive Conservatives oppose. If the NDP does not, the wage would remain at $11 an hour after June 1.

For her part, Horwath also toned down the election rhetoric that has seized Queen’s Park since MPPs returned from the winter break last Tuesday.

Her party kept Wynne’s minority Liberals alive Tuesday in procedural supply motions that were votes of confidence in the government. The motions passed 65-35 with only the Tories wanting to topple the Grits.

“New Democrats are not Republican Americans,” said Horwath, referring to right-wing lawmakers stateside who routinely take Washington to the brink over money-supply legislation.

“These are routine motions. We take our responsibilities seriously. If we were to vote down these motions, literally Elections Ontario wouldn’t have the money to put on an election. We are certainly not going to throw the government of this province into chaos.”

It remains unclear whether the New Democrats will continue to prop up the Liberals when Finance Minister Charles Sousa tables his budget in late March or early April.

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But there are other indicators the third party is not as keen as the Conservatives to hit the hustings.

Last Thursday, the Star asked the Liberals, Tories, Greens, and NDP for lists of nominated candidates. Only the NDP has yet to provide that information. New Democrat officials said it would not be available until next week at the earliest.

That suggests a lack of election readiness compared to the other three parties.

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