The Corporation of the Township of Blandford-Blenheim was recognized for its achievement in becoming a certified living wage employer during the regular Council meeting on Wednesday, May 21, 2025.
The acknowledgement comes after Council unanimously voted in favour of taking the next steps to formalize the Townships’ participation with the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN) back on Wednesday, March 19, 2025.
According to the OLWN, which updates living wage calculations across the province every year, a living wage is defined as “the hourly wage a worker needs to earn to cover their basic expenses and participate in their community.”
Josh Brick, the Township’s CAO, explained in March that by joining the OLWN, the municipality could expect to experience several benefits, 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, and
- Experiencing a decrease in employee turnover and absenteeism, increased retention and productivity, and savings on rehiring and retraining.
While minimum wage in Ontario currently sits at $17.20/hour, the living wage rate for the London-Oxford-Elgin region is $19.50/hour (the lowest living wage calculation among all the areas of Ontario the OLWN services).
Brick said then that given that most of the municipality’s positions exceeded the $19.50/hour rate, the Township was, in effect, already largely complying with the OLWN criteria to become a living wage employer. The exception was the $18.39/hour earned by crossing guards and summer students.
Mayor Mark Peterson said he would support increasing the wages for those positions, noting that the increase would ultimately be minimal.
“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.”
Now that the wage increase is officially in effect, Blandford-Blenheim has become the first in Oxford County to pay all full-time, part-time and contract employees a local living wage. It is also now the eighth local government in Ontario to become a certified employer, and the third to do so at the highest level of certification behind the City of Waterloo and the Region of Waterloo.
During the May 21 meeting, Anne Coleman, OLWN’s Director of Programs and Services, congratulated Council for joining the network, and presented the members with a certificate of recognition.
Afterwards, Peterson thanked Coleman for the recognition, noting that the certificate would proudly be displayed at the Township office.
“It was absolutely Council and staff’s pleasure to do this, so thank you,” he said.
In an email to the Brant Beacon, Craig Pickthorne, the OLWN’s Director of Communications, said that it was great to see the Township making the commitment to becoming a living wage employer.
“Local councils and governments across southern Ontario are becoming living wage employers, and it’s great to see Blandford-Blenheim lead the way in Oxford County,” he wrote. “We list businesses and organizations from all sectors in our certified living wage employer directory, but having local councils set an example for the communities they serve sends a powerful message: workers are more than just a cost to suppress, they are internal to the success of an organization.”
Pickthorne also highlighted the broader reality behind the living wage push.
“There is no place in Ontario where you can work a full-time minimum wage job and make ends meet, and Oxford County is no exception, where the living wage is $2.30 above the current minimum wage.”
As far as how the organization calculates the living wages, Pickthorne explained that they look at major expenses that workers face such as shelter costs, transportation, childcare and food.
“We also take into account other expenses such as internet access, a modest annual vacation, clothing and more,” he said. “Any applicable government taxes, transfers, and benefits are factored in as well, and what we get is an hourly wage that a worker must earn in order to make ends meet where they live.”
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.
