Loblaw Companies Ltd. chair and CEO Galen G. Weston recently joined the chorus of business leaders to come out against the Liberal’s proposal to increase Ontario’s minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2019. Weston — whose family’s sprawling business empire includes Loblaw stores, No Frills, Shoppers Drug Mart and high-end fashion retailer Holt Renfrew — fretted about the proposal’s effect on his bottom line in a call with analysts recently.

This comes on the heels of the government’s plan to increase the minimum wage to $14 per hour on Jan. 1, 2018, and then to $15 the following January. A similar policy in Alberta will see the minimum wage raised to $13.60 this October, and increase to $15 in October 2018.

Approximately 1 in 5 Albertan workers and 30 per cent of Ontario workers currently earn less than $15 per hour.

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