Canadian Payroll Reporter

MARCH 2014 8 Canadian HR Reporter, a Thomson Reuters business 2014 Published 12 times a year by Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd. Subscription rate: $179 per year Customer Service Tel: (416) 609-3800 (Toronto) (800) 387-5164 (outside Toronto) Fax: (416) 298-5106 E-mail: carswell.customerrelations @thomsonreuters.com Website: www.carswell.com One Corporate Plaza 2075 Kennedy Road, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M1T 3V4 Director, Carswell Media: Karen Lorimer Publisher: John Hobel Managing Editor: Todd Humber todd.humber@thomsonreuters.com (416) 298-5196 Editor: Sheila Brawn sbrawn@rogers.com Marketing Manager: Mohammad Ali mm.ali@thomsonreuters.com (416) 609-5866 Circulation Co-ordinator: Travis Chan travis.chan@thomsonreuters.com (416) 609-5872 ©2014 Thomson Reuters Canada Ltd/ ISBN/ISSN: 978-0-7798-2810-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval sys- tem or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher (Carswell, a Thomson Reuters business). Return Mail Registration # 1522825 Return Postage Guaranteed Paid News Revenue Toronto Canadian Payroll Reporter is part of the Canadian HR Reporter group of publications: • Canadian HR Reporter (www.hrreporter.com) • Canadian Occupational Safety magazine (www.cos-mag.com) • Canadian Safety Reporter (www.safety-reporter.com) • Canadian Employment Law Today (www.employmentlawtoday.com) • Canadian Labour Reporter (www.labour-reporter.com) See carswell.com for information www.payroll-reporter.com (NLEC) says while it supports measures to take the politics out of setting the minimum wage, "the NLEC believes a less volatile indicator than CPI be used and that the indicator should act as ceil- ing that government uses when setting minimum wage, and that they retain the right hold on minimum wage increases if necessitated by economic conditions." The Canadian Federation of Inde- pendent Business (CFIB) says govern- ments should not consider raising the minimum wage until they have tried to reduce poverty through other means, such as tax relief and training programs. In a submission to the Saskatchewan government, the CFIB said: "We oppose automatically tying Saskatchewan's minimum wage to any economic indi- cator, as it assumes affordability every year and does not reflect current market conditions." Even the Ontario Chamber of Com- merce, which supports tying minimum wage to the CPI, says annual minimum wage changes could hurt employment by making it too expensive for employers to hire additional workers. McGuinty notes some businesses have expressed con- cerns that increasing the minimum wage could force employers to raise wages for employees who earn just above the min- imum wage. Doing this annually could negatively affect businesses. The Chamber also cautions there could be dangers with automatic adjust- ments tied to inflation. "Increases to the minimum wage could still occur during economic down- turns, as inflation can still rise during times of weak or negative economic growth," it said in a submission to the Ontario panel. Governments need to look for the right balance when coming up with a wage-setting process, Parenteau says adding provinces often look to each oth- er for solutions. Whatever path a province chooses, Parenteau advises each jurisdiction to find the process that works best for it. "What works in Saskatchewan might not work in B.C., might not work in Al- berta." Continued from page 2 Concerns about automatic increases project to test alternatives to the current methods used to train apprentices. The Flexibility and Innovation in Appren- ticeship Technical Training pilot project would test training methods such as in-class simulators, e-learning modules and video conferencing. Canada Job Grant: The grant would provide funding to help Canadians re- ceive job training at community colleg- es, career colleges, trade union centres and with private trainers. It could pro- vide up to $15,000 per person for train- ing costs, of which the federal govern- ment would provide $10,000. Employers would be required to contribute about one-third of the total costs. Ottawa is still in negotiations with the provinces and territories on how to implement it . In jurisdictions where it cannot come to an agreement, the government said would deliver the program on its own through Service Canada, beginning next month. The provincial scene: A number of other jurisdictions have also released their annual budgets. In British Colum- bia, the only payroll-related change was an announcement that premiums for the Medical Services Plan would go up on Jan. 1, 2015. Premiums for a single person will rise from $69.25 per month to $72. The maximum premium for a family of two will increase from $125.50 per month to $130.50 and for a family of three or more, it will increase from $138.50 per month to $144. In Quebec, the government an- nounced it would change its payroll re- mittance thresholds to match the federal proposals. Quebec will implement the change once Ottawa revises its regula- tions to incorporate the new remittance thresholds. The Quebec government also said it would introduce a tax credit for search and rescue volunteers similar to the proposed federal one. New Brunswick and the Northwest Territories also unveiled budgets, but they did not include any payroll-related changes. Budget highlights Continued from page 5

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