Skip to content

EDITORIAL: Tread carefully with $15/hour promise

Province should measure impact of 50-cent hike in minimum wage before promising to jump to $15
8138766_web1_money

The province’s announcement of a hike in B.C.’s minimum wage has been met with concerns from business groups, and with good reason.

For some owners of small businesses, a 50-cent increase in wages – to $11.85, or $10.10 for those who serve liquor – will prove problematic, and the NDP government’s promise of a $15-an-hour rate by 2021 will be even more difficult to stomach for so-called “mom and pop” shops.

READ MORE: Small business group says no to B.C.’s $15 minimum-wage plan

READ MORE: Surrey Board of Trade says minimum wage increase will hit small businesses hard

For employees on the edge of poverty, however, any rate increase is good news.

Some have suggested tying minimum-wage hikes to inflation, but we’re not sure that’d work.

Instead, the NDP provincial government should closely measure the impact of the 50-cent rate hike before it commits to the much more steep jump to $15 an hour, just four years from now.

That’s just good business.

Now-Leader