BC NDP

BURNABY- While minimum wage earners in Newfoundland ring in the New Year with a pay raise, workers making the minimum wage in British Columbia will continue to live in poverty even while they work full time, say New Democrats.

"British Columbia has the lowest minimum wage and the highest child poverty in the country," said New Democrat labour critic Raj Chouhan. "It's frustrating that the B.C. Liberal government is unable to connect the dots between low wages and children living in poverty."

The Conservative government of Newfoundland has committed to raising the minimum wage in the Atlantic province to $10 an hour by July 2010. As of Jan.1, 2010, minimum wage workers in Newfoundland will be making $9.50 an hour.

"This year a record number of British Columbians relied on food banks to meet their basic needs," said Chouhan. "Yet the B.C. Liberal government has refused to raise the minimum wage for more than eight years. That's shameful."

According to the Conservative government of Newfoundland, the minimum wage increase is part of the province's poverty reduction strategy. The Liberal governments of Quebec and Ontario and the New Democrat government of Manitoba have also implemented poverty reduction strategies; all have also recently raised their minimum wages.

"New Democrats have been calling on the B.C. Liberal government to follow the lead of provinces of every political stripe and implement a poverty reduction strategy," said Chouhan. "It is time for B.C.'s lowest paid workers to get a well-deserved raise."

Carole James and the New Democrats are committed to raising the minimum wage to $10 an hour as part of a comprehensive and targeted poverty reduction strategy.