While minimum wage workers in Ontario celebrated a 75 cent raise April 1, taking their minimum wage to $10.25 an hour, low-income families in B.C. faced increased costs and the lowest minimum wage in the country. Instead of a wage increase, B.C. workers got higher ferry fares, bus fares, hydro and gas bills, increased camping fees and the HST.
The minimum wage in B.C. has been stuck at $8 an hour since 2001. Since then, minimum wage workers have seen their buying power decrease 12 per cent. The opposition has repeatedly called on the BC Liberal government to raise the minimum wage to $10 an hour, and index it to the cost of inflation.
In doing so, the government would be following the lead of provinces of every political stripe. The Conservative government of Newfoundland has committed to raising their minimum wage to $10 an hour by July as part of their poverty reduction strategy. The Liberal governments of Quebec and Ontario and the New Democrat government of Manitoba have also implemented poverty reduction strategies; all have also recently raised their minimum wages.
Visit www.bcfed.ca/issues/minimum_wage for more about the $10 minimum wage campaign.
Also in this issue
- School funding updates
- Private Member’s Motion: Creating a poverty reduction plan for B.C.
- Great local events and resources
