Labour Day and talk of a higher minimum wage
VANCOUVER/CKNW(AM980)
9/7/2009

The NDP calls it shameful that BC has Canada's lowest minimum wage on this of all days, Labour Day.

"That's appalling." And Carole James says with our high cost of living, an increase in the minimum wage from eight to ten dollars an hours is critical, "When we have the highest child poverty rate in this country here in British Columbia, those aren't children living in poverty, those are families living in poverty. Every opportunity should be there for British Columbians. We need to increase that minimum wage and I think it's shameful the Government has continued to do nothing to address people who are struggling, the working poor."

But Labour Minister Murray Coell is standing firm, saying BC's average full time wage is 22 dollars an hour, and the Government has no plans to raise the minimum wage.