National

B.C. Announces 50-cent-an-hour Increase In Minimum Wage, Starting In September

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 27 Feb, 2017 12:11 PM

VICTORIA — The minimum wage in British Columbia will rise by 50 cents to $11.35 an hour in mid-September.

The ministry says there will be an identical increase of 50 cents to the minimum wage for liquor servers, bringing it to $10.10 per hour in September.

The Jobs, Tourism and Skills Training Ministry says the new wages include a 20-cent increase based on British Columbia's 2016 Consumer Price Index, plus an additional 30 cents.

The minimum wage was raised to $10.85 an hour last September.

Irene Lanzinger, president of the B.C. Federation of Labour, said at the time that still left 500,000 workers earning poverty level wages of below $15 an hour.

In a news release, the ministry says when self-employed people are excluded, there were 93,800 workers earning the minimum wage last year in a workforce of just under two million people.

The ministry says it will announce more details later on increases in the daily rates for live-in home support and camp leaders, monthly rates for resident caretakers and the pay rates affecting farm workers harvesting certain fruits and vegetables.

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Kathleen Wynne To Announce Health, Infrastructure Funding In Northern Ontario Tour

Wynne leaves Saturday on a weeklong visit to schools, hospitals, businesses and First Nations from North Bay to Sioux Lookout, with stops in Sudbury, Dryden, Kenora, Fort Frances, Kirkland Lake and nearly a dozen other communities.

Kathleen Wynne To Announce Health, Infrastructure Funding In Northern Ontario Tour

B.C. Fire Crews' Radio Equipment 'Deliberately' Vandalized: Officials

CASTLEGAR, B.C. — Wildfire officials say vandals near Creston, B.C., have destroyed crucial radio equipment used to keep firefighters safe.

B.C. Fire Crews' Radio Equipment 'Deliberately' Vandalized: Officials

Wildfires Affect Flow Of Electricity To Yellowknife, Other Communities

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation says there was a brief outage early Friday morning as fires burn near transmission lines and its Snare hydroelectricity facility.

Wildfires Affect Flow Of Electricity To Yellowknife, Other Communities

Trio Charged With First-degree Murder In Newfoundland Man's Abduction

ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The mayor of a Newfoundland suburb says residents are "more at ease" since police charged three men in the abduction and death of Steven Miller.

Trio Charged With First-degree Murder In Newfoundland Man's Abduction

Global Rights Groups To Keep Eye On Canada's Missing, Murdered Women Inquiry

OTTAWA — The number of missing or murdered indigenous women in Canada has not escaped the attention of members of the international human rights community, who will keep a close eye on a national inquiry they say is long overdue.

Global Rights Groups To Keep Eye On Canada's Missing, Murdered Women Inquiry

Manitoba Premier Says He Has Not Talked With Owners Of Shutdown Port

Omnitrax has not made any public statements and has refused media requests for interviews about the decision, which has resulted in dozens of layoffs in Churchill.