On Saturday, British Columbia's lowest earners will see their hourly rate increase to $17.40/hour.
B.C. Labour Minister Harry Bains joined C-FAX 1070's Al Ferraby on Thursday to discuss the provincial minimum wage increasing by 65-cents on Saturday, June 1.
The increase, from $16.75/hour to $17.40/hour, will make B.C.'s minumum wage the highest of all Canadian provinces. Ontario will see an increase to $17.20 in October 2024, while B.C.'s neighbour Alberta hasn't had an increase from $15 since 2018.
Bains says increasing the minimum hourly rate is "a key step in our effort to make life a bit more affordable and build a stronger economy".
In 2022, the province made a decision to tie the minimum wage to the inflationary rate. Now every year on June 1 the minimum wage will automatically increase by the rate of inflation.
Some restaurant groups have expressed concerns around this hike because they rely heavily on minimum wage workers to operate.
On Wednesday, B.C. Asian Restaurant Café Owners Association released a statement saying that the increase will cause their members to raise prices and that will lead to less people dining out in the province.
C-FAX's Ryan Price spoke with Ian Tostenson, president and CEO of the British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservice Association (BCRFA) on Wednesday afternoon about what he's been hearing from restaurant owners.
Tostenson says increases in food, rent and energy costs is resulting in 60 per cent of B.C. restaurants "just breaking even or losing money" and that this increase is just another added cost to those operators.
The Labour Minister says they do hear from small bussinesses that are struggling and that the government has raised the threshold for the B.C. healthcare tax from $500,000 to $1,000,000 to offset some of the costs.
Listen to Minister Bains full interview:
Listen to Ian Tostenson's full interview: