On June 1, B.C. will become the province with the highest minimum wage in Canada.
The minimum wage will increase to $15.20 an hour and the lower discriminatory minimum wage for liquor servers will end.
Liquor servers will also make $15.20 an hour.
That would be the highest minimum wage among the provinces, though still not the highest in Canada. The territory of Nunavut has the highest minimum wage in Canada at $16 an hour.
Over the past four years, B.C.’s general minimum wage has increased to $15.20 from $11.35 per hour.
“About 80 (per cent) of liquor servers are women, and the low liquor wage is a clear example of the gender pay gap we are fighting to eliminate,” said Grace Lore, Parliamentary Secretary of Gender Equity, in a release.
“Most minimum wage earners are women, often racialized women and newcomers who face barriers to accessing better-paying jobs. We need to work towards wages that workers can actually live on instead of being held back by.”
In addition, live-in camp leader minimum wage pay per day will increase to $121.65 from $116.86; and resident caretaker minimum wage, per month, increases to $912.28, plus $36.56 per suite for those who manage nine to 60 residential suites and to $3,107.42 for 61 or more suites.
“When this work began, B.C. had one of the lowest minimum wages in the country, but was one of the most expensive places to live,” the province said in a statement. “B.C. now has a minimum wage that is the highest of any province and starting next year, the increases for minimum wage will be tied to inflation.”