B.C. labour group renews call for a higher minimum wage
Time Colonist
September 5, 2010
By Carla Wilson

VICTORIA — The B.C. Federation of Labour is renewing calls for a higher minimum wage and has found a pair of allies in the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association and Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce.

B.C.'s minimum wage, at $8 an hour, is the lowest in Canada.

Chamber CEO Bruce Carter said it's time to examine the wage. "It certainly deserves a review, and based on our economic experience I would be surprised if such a review did not indicate it should go up some," said Carter. "How much, I don't know."

B.C.'s minimum wage has not changed since 2001. Since then the cost of living has gone up, he said.

Carter said the minimum wage, which he considers appropriate for entry-level work, should not be confused with a living wage, which would be enough to support a family.

The Labour Ministry said in a statement that last year there were close to 1.8 million paid employees in B.C. Of those, 2.3 per cent earned the regular minimum wage or less. Of that 2.3 per cent, less than half of one per cent earned between $6 and $7.99 an hour. B.C.'s training wage allows new workers to be paid $6.

"Our government has held fast to the view that there are many better and effective ways to assist these [low-income] workers apart from increasing minimum wage," said Labour Minister Murray Coell….

B.C. Federation of Labour president Jim Sinclair said B.C. has "some of the highest rates of poverty in Canada and a minimum wage that has been frozen for nine years." Inflation during that time has eroded the spending power of B.C.'s minimum wage by nearly 15 per cent, he said.

Good wages are the solution to problems people face in the economy, Sinclair said. "I guarantee Gordon Campbell this: If you give somebody earning $8.50 or $9 a wage increase, they will spend every single penny of it in the community they live in. They won't be taking it to Florida. They won't be taking it to the Bahamas."

The labour federation is seeking an increase to $10 an hour, from today's $8, with future increases linked to the cost of living.

Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association, said a review of the minimum wage "is the responsible thing."

"It's time to take a look at this to see how we can gradually move that minimum wage to make sure that we are keeping up with the world around us."

The association represents more than 3,000 B.C. restaurants and food service establishments….

This week, New Brunswick boosted its minimum wage by 50 cents to $9 an hour and two more 50-cent increases will put it at $10 by Sept. 1, 2011. Ontario raised its minimum wage by 75 cents an hour to $10.25 at the end of March.

Provincial minimum wage comparisons

British Columbia: $8
Alberta: $8.80
Saskatchewan: $9.25
Manitoba: $9
Ontario: $10.25
Quebec: $9.50
New Brunswick: $9
Nova Scotia: $9.20
Prince Edward Island: $8.70
Newfoundland/Labrador: $10