The Road to a $15 Minimum Wage in Three Canadian Provinces

The provincial minimum wage will have risen from the lowest in the country to the highest over the span of three years. [...] Spending in the service sector has also gone up, presenting the argument that more money in the pockets of low-wage workers means more spending in local economies, and a boon to the very businesses higher wages were prophesized to hurt. [...] At the time the wage increases began, the gender pay gap was also the highest in the country. [...] Last October, the government’s Fair Wages Commission set off to assess the state of employment, income, and life on the job for B. C.’s workers, to advise the government on three points: a timeline for reaching the $15 minimum wage, proposed adjustments to the em- ployment standards act, and bridging the gap between the minimum 4 wage and calculated minimum wage, which was as high as $20.62 in Van [...] The first increase will see a rise $12.65 from the current $11.35 At the time of the announcement, Horgan told the press, “We believe that 2021 is not overly aggressive, in fact it will be disappointing to some.” He wasn’t wrong.