A twenty cent an hour increase to the minimum wage won't buy a cup of coffee or a phone call and it's not enough to get low-income earners out of poverty, says the province's NDP leader.
But John Horgan isn't ready to commit to a dollar figure for B.C.'s 110,400 employees who make the minimum wage. Instead, he prefers a collaborative approach to raising the hourly rate for minimum wage workers, starting with a conversation with the BC Chamber of Commerce.
"It has to be part of a collaborative process," Horgan told members of the Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce who attended a luncheon Friday to hear him speak.
Horgan's comments come as the province commits to tying the minimum wage to increases in B.C.'s CPI (Consumer Price Index) starting with a 20 cent hike Sept. 15, which will bring the general minimum hourly wage to $10.45 from $10.25.
Calling the B.C. Federation of Labour's fight for $15 Campaign a "big objective," he acknowledged that reaching such a milestone couldn't be done over night, and "wouldn't be an edict from me," if he was elected premier.
However, he said tying the minimum wage to the CPI was a good first step.
The issue seemed to resonate with some chamber members, who raised the question about the minimum wage at the end of Horgan's presentation, with one business executive raising concerns about the impact on small businesses or larger businesses that already pay more but would have to match the increase.
Horgan's response was that low income earners with more disposable income would simply spend it in their community, not stick it in a tax haven, ultimately benefiting local businesses and the local economy.
Later in an interview, Horgan admitted he was surprised at the premier's announcement which he said appeared to come out of nowhere, and is less than what minimum wage earners make in other provinces such as Ontario, where the minimum wage is $11 an hour.
Horgan said the wage hike was a "tepid" response to concerns by poverty activists and the B.C. feds' minimum wage campaign, suggesting that collaborating with stakeholders, including the BC Chamber of Commerce would be a good place to start to come to a compromise.
Sporting a Yes, button, Horgan, said he and several Metro Vancouver NDP MLAs will be voting 'Yes' in the upcoming transit plebiscite because they believe their constituents will benefit from improvements that will be paid for by the 0.5% sales tax increase.
But Horgan expressed concern about the strength of the No side, and worried that concerns about TransLink governance would overshadow the benefits of Mayor's Council plan."We need to have senior levels of government step up," said Horgan, who said he hoped the federal government's share of road and transit improvements will be raised during the expected October, 2015 election and that the B.C. premier would make some commitments as well.
The Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce is also on record as supporting the Yes campaign in the upcoming mail-in referendum.
