Not cool.

This was needed with the poverty rate as bad as it is this should help a little. I know it will hurt some but I think it is for the best. The working people of this provance need a bit of a boost. Lots of the people earning minimum wage work just as hard or harder then a lot that earn much more.

This will slow the restaurants down even more. With the new liquor laws, the HST, and now this, more restaurants will be closing their doors.

Poverty rate probably won't decrease much with higher min wages. If anything more minimum wage jobs will be eliminated, and welfare rates will go up.

What impacts could this also have on high school drop-outs? There are students who know they will never get a post secondary education so they may kick school to make $10/hour.

But not for liqour servers.
They stay at 9 bucks.
Why?
Because of tips?
Nothing is ever simple...there is always a catch with this government.
Oh well...nice try anyway Ms.Clark.
An increase is long overdue, but make it apply across the board to everyone.
That's fair.
So if a server is serving food AND drinks, does that knock them back to 9 bucks an hour?
Then again,she is also assuming she will still be around in 2012.

Oh...and when will the house sit to vote and make this law?
I seem to recall there is nobody in the legislature right now,and hasn't been for quite a while?

This is very cool. The cost of living has increased drastically but the wages have not. This will help many people out. The businesses have been getting a good deal for a long time with cheap wages. All other provinces have higher wages and their businesses survive. We used to be the highest paying province in the country and they survived then too. Also, many businesses will no longer hire without a grade 12, some still do, but many do not.

Okay, now I'm confused. I thought the Provincial Liberals were actually fairly right leaning Conservatives who cared more about big business than joe worker?

Maybe Clark is a little closer politically to what the party moniker suggests? If so, it may actually be a good thing for the Liberals and a bad thing for the NDP. A party in the middle of the political spectrum is needed in BC and if Clark can transform the Liberals into that, perhaps she may be on the right path.

Then again, this might just be a quick way to try and gain support. Who really knows. It will be interesting to see some of the other policies that are to come.

oh well so much for my 99 cent cheeseburger

I wouldn't read too much into this just yet NMG.
She has a long way to go and leopards rarely change their spots!
We should also remember she is surrounded by the same old,same old that we had under Campbell.
They are just sitting in different chairs!
I wonder if Clark cleared this with Finance Minister Falcon?

awesome christy!! u rule !stop poverty,just is just step 1

if these big bussiness cant pay an extra buck or two to there employees,the bigger and better bussiness will.

Stop poverty? I don't think so. The slumlords simply raise rent to absorb any increase. The story should read "Landlords raise rent". Also mo' money means mo' taxes. The story could also read "Liberals raise taxes" Or how about "Cost of everything (inflation) skyrockets in BC." And the comments here just illustrate what little socialists know about politics, economies and life in general. Pay everybody 100 grand a year and nothing changes but the size of the price tag on everything. If you don't earn enough, get a better job!

Which means our prov. taxes will go up to fund the increase.
Who cares? Remove the HST or else you will be gone too. Hansen will make room for you in his boat.

This is going to destroy the economy of BC. It's over get ready for the great depression better stock up on soup now. All small business are closing as of May 1 2012.

Bang on Imorge and gamblor...we WILL pay for this.
I am not against an increase,but people should realize,it will cost us all.
In the end,not much changes when prices increase to compensate for the raise.
And Clark should also pay attention to the fact that very few workers in this province have had raises of any merit for a long time.
Given the rising costs of everything,(did I mention B.C.Hydro?)that is going to come to a head in the very near future.
Families are losing ground and it is only going to get worse.
Clark can try to come across as the good guy all she wants to boost Liberal popularity,but she is going to be in for a very rough ride on her sinking ship.
We had Gordon Campbell for 8+years,and the taxpayer in here B.C. are not quite as naive as they once were.

Gotta love all the closure threats from all you people running a business in BC.
Go ahead shut your doors and join the welfare lines. See how you like it.
There should've been a province wide strike long ago fighting for an increase in the minimum wage. You should all be ashamed of yourselves getting rich on the backs of your slave labourers!

"oh well so much for my 99 cent cheeseburger'

That coming from someone that makes $30 an hour!

And.... when you greedy pr%$ks raise the price on everything because your employees finally get what they have deserved for so long, lets see how long you stay in business when people stop spending their hard earned dollars at your place of business!

Dragonmaster, why don't you run a business with employees and payrolls, instead of puking out your 19th century union swill.

Poor Liberals. New leader but still can't discern the difference between 'inflation' and 'prosperity'. All raising the minimum wage will do is make everything more expensive. We get to work with bigger figures. Ones that will now buy less than they bought before in terms of actual purchasing power. You'd think after all this time they'd have it figured out. Every business has to recover ALL its costs in prices, or it's out of business. Whether you're employed at minimum wage or something substantially higher, if your employer's not getting his, it won't be long befoe you're not goin to be getting yours

About time!!!!

i am an employer and I think it is a step in the right direction. More money moving around

what more money learn a trade

Gamblor is right on in this instance. The price of 'things' has gotten way out of control. 40 to 60 grand for a truck. 300 grand for a home. Easy financing and keeping up with the Joneses has cost Canadian society alot. Spend,spend,spend.....keep the economy moving....at all costs.....

Its a sad day indeed when you spend 100 dollars in a grocery store and carry your entire purchase into the house in one hand....

This may indeed slow trade at restaurants, but probably not much. In this society, I think that more people eat 'out' rather than cook from scratch. The minimum wage sector will not be getting rich on the increase, and all businesses that pay minimum wage will be on the same playing field. What will likely hit the business person harder is the increase in wages the long term employees will expect. If you have good people, they are essential to your operation, and you have to pay them well enough to make sure they stay with you. Just try to run your business without reliable, competent people who probably don't steal from you. They will feel entitled to a raise too, if only to maintain their distance from the minimum wagers. And you had better give it to them.
My sermon is now at an end. All rise!
metalman.

FIRSTLY. The minimum wage in BC has been $8.00 per hour since 2001. The training wage is $6.00 per hour until you accumulate 500 hours of work which is approx 25 weeks, if you are only getting 20 hours per week from your employer. If you hold two jobs then you could get to the $8.00 rate after approx 12.5 weeks.

The $8.00 per hour rate has been in effect since 2001, in other words for the whole time that the Liberals were in power. They were the ones that brought in the training wage of $6.00 per hour. The $8.00 per hour is the lowest rate in Canada. (good on yah BC).

Our Premier Crispy Crunch was in the Liberal Government for a number of years while this wage was in effect. So were most of the other Cabinet Ministers and MLA's so they were responsible for this fiasco from the get go.

To now make an announcement of change just before the HST Referendum, and the possibility of an early election makes one realize how jaded these people are.

By eliminating the training wage they are in effect re-instating the rate that was in effect in 2001, in other words you are just getting back what they took away.

So the rate will go from $8.00 to $8.75 on May 1, 2011 and then two more increases so that by 2012 it will be $10.75. If you are working a 20 hour week (and most minimum wage workers only get 20hours) then you are looking at an increase of $15.00 per week. After 2012 you would get approx $40.00 increase for a 20 hour week, or $2080.00 per year. Total earnings for a 20 hour week employee would be $11,180.00 for a 40 hour week it would be $22,360.00

The Liberals are famous for talking something away from you and then giving it back and calling it an increase.

Dont be fooled by all the smiles, waving, back slapping, guffawing, etc; These are the same old dogs running in the same pack. They have just changed leaders to give the impression of change.

The HST has been in effect for approx 9 months now. Has anyone been able to determine where the price decreases are, and better yet, where all the jobs are that were to have been created.

Is it possible that we in fact have increased prices, and a decrease in jobs??

Good posts Dragonmaster!! You said it perfectly!! Thank you!

As the economy improves and jobs increase at the top end of the wage scale,the minimum wage should also rise accordingly.
People move on to higher paying jobs.
Sometimes,they even have to get off their duffs and move somewhere else for a better paying job.
Obviously,that is not how it works here in B.C.even during the good times.
We have a government that keeps packing on the costs,even when things are good.
Employers continue to pay the minimum,which is nothing more than exploiting people at a disadvantage.
That's human nature,unfortunately.
But when the economy is not strong,raising wages on the bottom end hurts everyone.
Minimum wage workers will be no better off as prices and costs rise to compensate for the minimum wage increase.
Businesses will pass it on to the consumer.
And we will all pay more... no doubt about it.
Alberta was a good example of how it should work, a few years back.
During the oil sands boom,workers in smaller businesses saw their wages increase to keep them from heading north to the oil fields and to related industry.
There were lots of higher paying jobs around if you had the drive to go and get one.
Dairy Queen was paying 10-12 bucks an hour in Athabasca to keep people.
In some cases even higher, and things were good, but costs for everything rose accordingly.
To make a long story short...Stelmach soon killed that by raising oil royalties, and things began to slow down.
With that went the jobs at the top end.
A strong economy on the top end is the key to higher wages.
Simply raising them on the bottom end when times are tough,solves nothing.
Lower wage earners will be no better off, as prices and wages increase to compensate for the higher minimum wage.
Fix the problem at the top,not at the bottom.
But then,that isn't why Clark did it.
This is a smoke and mirrors show to improve Liberal(including herself)popularity.
A stronger economy has nothing to do with any of it.

he spoke:-"i am an employer and I think it is a step in the right direction. More money moving around"
-------------------------------------------
Which does what? More money "moving around" is a complete misconception of the whole nature of money. Any given sum of money can be used to transfer any amount of goods and services from one party to another, but it can only liquidate ONE set of 'costs' ~ those equal to itself.

Increasing the amount of money "in circulation", or even the "velocity of circulation", (the number of times it passes from hand to hand before it returns as a loan repayment to the Bank that created it as a loan), does absolutely NOTHING towards making anyone any better off SO LONG AS THAT MONEY STILL ENTERED THE ECONOMY AS A 'DEBT' IN THE FIRST PLACE, i.e. it is still 'costed' into the price of some good or service. Which the raise in the minimum wage most certainly will be.

I am an employer, too, he spoke. While this move may well be seen to be "...a step in the right direction..", and I can well imagine it will be very welcome news to those now earning minimum wage, it is really a hollow promise for them. And us.

It will only increase the amount of overall indebtedness ~ unrepayable indebtedness ~ that we now labour under. "Inflation" has been called the cruelest tax of all, for it is a levy on the purchasing power of 'savings' gleaned, in most cases, from a lifetime of labour. It further impoverishes those who've 'worked', or would be willing to work, for the short-term benefit of those who 'manipulate'.

It's time those on the "right" of the political spectrum woke-up to this FACT, for all they're currently doing is fighting a rear-guard action ~ a continual retreat, really ~ from the type of 'socialism' they fear most. One that cannot help but overwhelm us all, if things continue as they are. And it will NOT make anything 'better' either, only universally worse for all. Time we began to understand 'money' itself, and use it to real advantage for ALL.

It was time for an increase but.........

they could have made some accommodation for students/teenagers. The $6/hr deal was to encourage employers to hire young workers. They could have left that in place but increased it to $8 or $9. It did help teenagers get their foot in the door.

it will make it harder for families to afford childcare. Even where there are 2 parents working, dishing out $14/hr (wages + payroll expenses)for childcare is gonna be tough, and it will be near impossible for a single parent. No more summer jobs for a lot of teenagers.

Bang on gitterdun!

Maybe we should drop minimum wage to $5 / hour, give business all their HST back and lower corporate income taxes some more. That will drop the prices of everything we buy. NOT. It would just make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Maybe we should drop minimum wage to $5 / hour, give business all their HST back and lower corporate income taxes some more. That will drop the prices of everything we buy. NOT. It would just make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

Confused, you're confused. Businesses already get all their HST back, and corporate income taxes are being lowered because corporate profits, in general, are falling, not rising. Have been for years.

So what's the point of trying to tax something that's continually decreasing? Governments would far sooner tax things that are continually increasing. And the HST is the perfect vehicle for doing just that. It not only taxes your personal spending from earnings, what's left of them after you've paid income taxes and other deductions, but also your spending from "borrowings".

And as more and more people are going further and further into hock just to live, the government wants a piece of the action. The HST gives it to them. Helps the government maintain its credit with the Banks, something which people like Gordo and the new Christy minstrel seem to have a fixation about.

So far as a break in taxes of corporate income is concerned, the idea, I believe, is to encourage corporations to re-invest their profits and keep going at trying to generate an income.

Not turn themselves into liquidating trusts, where they've virtually given up on trying to generate an operating income, and are, instead, now "living off their capital" ~ as they sell off piecemeal what's been built up over the years, and distribute the proceeds to their shareholders.