B.C.’s minimum wage goes up to $10.85

Tens of thousands in B.C. are getting a raise. Cheryl Chan follows the money and crunches the new numbers:

$10.85 B.C’s new minimum wage:

B.C.’s lowest-paid workers got a 40-cent hourly raise after a mandated wage hike went into effect Thursday. Minimum wage also goes up for liquor servers from $9.20 to $9.60, and for live-in workers such as live-in care workers or camp leaders, who are paid by the day or month, and some crop harvesters, who are paid by piece. B.C.’s next rate increase is scheduled for September 2017 to $11.25.

8th Lowest in Canada:

The increase bumps B.C. from the dubious distinction of having Canada’s lowest minimum wage to the middle of the pack. But ranking eighth out of 13 provinces and territories is small consolation, the B.C. Federation of Labour says, because of the prov- ince’s high cost of living. In Canada, the highest minimum wage is $13 per hour in Nunavut. The lowest, in Newfoundland and Labrador, is $10.50. B.C.’s mid-level ranking will be short-lived. Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Alberta all have increases slated for October, which would push B.C. down the list again.

93,700 Number of people earning minimum wage:

The 40-cent increase will impact roughly 93,700 people in B.C., about five per cent of the workforce. “The plight of low wage workers just isn’t on her radar,” B.C. Federation of Labour president Irene Lanzinger said of Premier Christy Clark.