By June 2021, the minimum wage in B.C. will rise to $15 – an increase the Burnaby Board of Trade says is too fast.
Premier John Horgan announced the provincial minimum wage would rise to at least $15.20 by 2021 following recommendations laid out by the Fair Wages Commission, the independent body tasked with making recommendations to guide the province toward a $15-an-hour minimum wage.
The first increase will happen June 1, when it goes up $1.30 to $12.65 an hour. Subsequent increases will take place in June 2019, 2020 and 2021.
But Burnaby Board of Trade president and CEO Paul Holden says the government’s approach is too hasty.
“We were looking somewhere along the lines of five or six years, and somewhere where it was linked in some fashion to the consumer price index so that it was a predictable and steady increase,” he told the NOW.
In November, the Burnaby Board of Trade released a report warning the Fair Wages Commission against rushing increases to the minimum wage. The report was based on feedback Burnaby businesses provided to the board of trade and while overall, businesses in the city supported a $15-an-hour minimum wage, many were concerned it would be implemented too quickly, according to the report.
Holden criticized Thursday’s announcement for doing just that, adding he was “disappointed that it wasn’t a longer timeline and that also it’s frontloaded.”
“It’s 11.5 per cent in the first increase, it’s a 9.5 per cent increase in the second one, which I think a lot of businesses are going to find difficult to handle,” he added.
But there is one saving grace, according to Holden.
“The stages have been laid out clearly so people know what the timelines are and what the increases will be, which does allow for some predictability for businesses to plan and to adjust,” he said.
B.C.’s current minimum wage is $11.35 an hour. Minimum wage across the country ranges from $10.85 to $14 an hour. By October of this year, Alberta will be become the first province to hit a $15-an-hour minimum wage, rising $1.40 from $13.60. Ontario will be the second province to hit $15 as of January 2019.
An announcement regarding the minimum wage for other workers covered by Employment Standards in B.C., including agricultural workers, liquor servers, live-in home support workers, resident caretakers, and live-in camp leaders, is still outstanding.
