Kevin Berger – Leader Staff
Last week, the Alberta government announced the creation of a new expert panel to study the economic impacts of raising the minimum wage from $10.20 in 2015 to $15 per hour in 2018.
As well, the panel will examine the possibility of establishing a “wage differential” for liquor servers, which the NDP had previously eliminated. The work of this nine-member panel is expected to begin right away and wrap sometime in the early new year.
Now, if you’re earning minimum wage yourself and are fairly happy with its current level, this news probably sends a chill down your spine.
But the news isn’t as dire as you may think: when asked if the $15 per hour minimum wage was going to be lowered, Labour Minister Jason Copping stressed that the United Conservative Party (UCP) will leave it alone.
“OK, but if they’re not lowering the minimum wage, then why examine the impacts of raising it?” Good question. As far as I can tell, the UCP are intent on acquiring a propaganda tool.
As Copping explained, when the minimum wage shot up by 47 per cent in such a short timeframe, the impacts were not well-understood, so they want this study to “inform public opinion” going forward.
In short, they want a document they can use to justify all manner of future tinkering with the minimum wage. While the minimum wage stays at $15, I wouldn’t be shocked if the UCP isn’t planning to create a list of various sub-categories of workers who can be paid less, starting with bar staff.
The idea of developing a report that can be used as a propaganda tool is evidenced by the make-up of the panel, which has already attracted a lot of outright mockery. It basically consists entirely of economists and business people who previously criticized the raising of the minimum wage to $15.
However, I’m going to offer my own unique criticism of this panel — why does it consist entirely of people from Edmonton and Calgary?
Have I missed something? Is the minimum wage not applicable to rural communities as well as urban centres? Ironically, it’s probably rural areas that have actually suffered the worst effects of the $15 minimum wage increase.
“Oh, maybe they restricted the panel to folks from Edmonton and Calgary to make it easier for them to meet.” Sound theory, except Copping said during the news conference that the panelists would be getting together mostly through conference calls and the like. So you could have had people on the panel from as far away as Grande Prairie and it wouldn’t make any difference.
For a party whose base is in the rural areas, the party doesn’t seem all that interested in hearing from rural residents unless it has to do with agriculture.
