WINNIPEG – Minimum wage in Manitoba is rising 20 cents Tuesday, going to $10.45 from $10.25.
Manitoba is home to more than 38,000 minimum wage earners, according to the Manitoba Labour Board.
Shea Ritchie, who owns Chaise Café, employs several of them.
Ritchie’s restaurant opened in St. Boniface this spring. His eatery has gone through financial challenges thanks to a PST increase, he said. Couple that with the minimum wage hike and some businesses will be forced to pinch even more pennies.
“I want to provide really good, high-quality food and very affordable prices,” Ritchie said, and the minimum wage increase won’t help. “It’s really bad for business and it’s showing our government doesn’t really care about the economy.”
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“We do this every year,” said Scott Jocelyn of the Manitoba Restaurant and Foodservices Association. “It doesn’t seem we’re getting any further ahead. This year, top it with the PST increase, it’s more and more challenging.”
Though the increase is good for the wallets of minimum wage earners, Ritchie said ultimately it could be detrimental to all taxpayers.
“Prices overall will go up,” Ritchie said. “Because now my supplier, their cost just went up, so they’re going to raise their prices on me, so I’m going to have to do it.”
Manitoba will have the third-highest minimum wage in Canada behind Nunavut and Yukon. The lowest minimum wage in Canada is in Alberta, where it is $9.95.
Minimum wages across Canada:
Nunavut $11
Yukon $10.54
Manitoba $10.45
Nova Scotia $10.30
B.C./Ontario $10.25
Quebec $10.15
Saskatchewan/P.E.I./New Brunswick/Newfoundland/Labrador/Northwest Territories $10
Alberta $9.95
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