Minimum wage to rise 30 cents

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This article was published 29/09/2019 (2229 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba’s minimum wage will go up by 30 cents, to $11.65 an hour, on Tuesday.

The minister responsible for growth and trade said the amount will keep the province competitive.

“We continue to provide predictable and sustainable increases to Manitoba’s minimum wage, which achieve the right balance benefitting both employees and employers,” said Blaine Pedersen in a news release.

“Regular minimum-wage increases improve wages for working Manitobans and provide predictability for small and medium-sized businesses that is consistent with Manitoba’s consumer price index,” he said.

The adjustment to $11.65 is based on Manitoba’s 2018 inflation rate of 2.5 per cent, rounding up to the nearest five cents.

About 5.4 per cent of workers in Manitoba earned minimum wage in 2015, Statistics Canada data show.

Anti-poverty advocates have been pushing for the minimum wage to increase to $15 an hour. They say Manitoba has one of the lowest rates in the country. Alberta’s rate is $15 an hour.

Josh Brandon, who works with the Social Planning Council of Winnipeg, said linking hikes to minimum wage with increases in the consumer price index means low-income people will never be able to get ahead or improve their standard of living.

“It essentially keeps minimum wage a poverty wage,” Brandon said.

“They are still thousands of dollars below the poverty line. It doesn’t change things for them.”

Brandon said some other provinces, like British Columbia, are working towards raising their minimum wages to $15 per hour.

“It at least gives them a standard of living close to what it costs to actually live here in Manitoba.”

The release issued by the Tory government applauds its record on making life more affordable. It cites the reduction of the provincial sales tax to seven per cent from eight per cent, as of last July; and the indexation of the basic personal amount and provincial income tax brackets, which the government said has removed almost 8,000 people from the tax rolls.

The Tories plan to introduce a law to implement the party’s 2020 tax rollback guarantee, which it claims will save an average taxpayer $2,020 once implemented. The measure was part of the party’s campaign platform in the recent election campaign.