Township of Blandford-Blenheim Council unanimously decided to take the next steps in formalizing the municipality’s participation with the Ontario Living Wage Network during its regular Council meeting on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
Josh Brick, CAO for the Township of Blandford-Blenheim, explained to Council that there’s been discussions surrounding whether or not Corporation of the Township of Blandford-Blenheim should join the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN).
“Just for a little bit of background, the Ontario Living Wage Network’s a not-for-profit organization that encourages Ontario employers to provide wages that reflect the actual cost of living in their respective communities,” said Brick. “This living wage calculation is based on local expenses such as housing, transportation, food and other necessities.”
As stated in Brick’s report, there are several benefits to joining OLWN, including:
- • Increasing mental and physical health, and economic well-being for those earning a living wage
• Attracting more potential employees and customers, particularly for lower paying occupations within in the municipality - •Experiencing a decrease in employee turnover and absenteeism, increased retention and productivity, and savings on rehiring and retraining.
The report also notes that once certified as a living wage employer, the municipality would be entitled to using both OLWN window decals, as well as electronic logos for various uses, and an official recognition on the OLWN website.
Brick went on to say that as it stands, while minimum wage is currently $17.50/hour, the living wage rate for London-Oxford-Elgin is currently $19.50/hour and that right now, it’s the lowest living wage calculation in all of the areas of Ontario the OLWN services.
“We’ve realized that the way that our grid is currently structured, we’re largely complying with the criteria that the Ontario Living Wage Network has set out, with the exception of Step 1 on the summer student grid and the crossing guard grid… all of our other positions currently exceed $19.50 per hour,” said Brick.
As far as becoming a living wage employer and receiving official endorsement from the OLWN, employers must agree to ensure that all direct full-time, part-time and contract employees are paid the living wage for their area.
With that being said, such employers are also encouraged to put in a clause stating that contracted and subcontracted workers are also paid the living wage.
Brick’s report did state that staff was not concerned about such a requirement given that a majority of contracted services are typically professional services whose wages go above and beyond the living wage (such as legal, engineering, auditors, contracted building services, etc.)
“At first this was something that I approached cautiously because I didn’t want to get in the way of any of our procurement processes, but upon further consideration, I really don’t think it’ll be an issue,” said Brick. “Most of the services that we’re procuring on that front are professional services and these are folks that are generally earning far more than what that living wage calculation is. …If we had a contracted cleaning service that was serviced in our municipal facilities, that would be where that clause would be more relevant and might interfere with our procurement.”
He also added that while it was up to Council to decide if they wanted to increase the current $18.39/hour for crossing guards to $19.50, they also weren’t completely obligated to up the wage for students.
“I should mention as well that as far as students go, there is some leeway with the Ontario Living Wage Network where we aren’t obligated to pay students that living wage, as long as the student workforce doesn’t compromise over ten per cent of our total workforce, which is not the case here,” he said.
Overall, Brick said that if they joined the OLWN, Blandford-Blenheim would be the first municipality in Oxford County to be certified as a living wage employer.
“I think that there’s limited obligations that we would have as being a certified living wage employer and I think it’s a nice designation to have, especially given that council is 99.5 per cent of the way there already in terms of ongoing costs,” he said. “There is a $125 per year annual membership fee that goes towards funding the operations of this not-for-profit organization, and there’d be very limited administrative work on the part of staff.”
Following Brick’s presentation, Mayor Mark Peterson said that considering the summer students and crossing guards are both sitting at $18.39/hour, he thought they should increase both wages to $19.50.
“I think we just do it for them all, we’re talking $1.11 cents an hour,” he said. “For crossing guards, that’s not even two hours a day, so you’re talking peanuts, and the students, they’re just here for the summer time.”
Councillor Nancy Demarest shared that she was in agreement.
“I’m just thinking of the students and I know that in previous years, one of the challenges is being competitive in order to attract students to some of our openings,” she said. “This might serve a dual purpose, right? It’s getting us in line with this policy, but it also might help us attract students that we’re looking for.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
