Raise B.C.'s minimum wage: MLAs' report

It is time to raise B.C.'s minimum wage, the B.C. legislature's Finance Committee has recommended in a report issued on Friday.

The committee, which is dominated by the province's Liberal party said it supports increasing the minimum wage "in small increments with appropriate advance notice."

The Liberal government has not raised the minimum wage during its nine years in office, and it is now the lowest in Canada at $8 per hour, and the report marks a significant change in policy for the party.

After the report's release, the committee chair Liberal MLA John Les commented that a strong economy was needed to support a higher minimum wage, but many people told the committee it is time, and the finance committee thought it was worth commenting on the issue.

It appears "the dam has broken," said B.C. Federation of Labour president  Jim Sinclair.

"Finally, when 80 per cent of the people say, 'Go raise the minimum wage,' these guys have tuned in and want to do it. So that's good news," said Sinclair.

He said there are more than 200,000 people in B.C. who make less than $10 an hour, so the government, "should do this as soon as possible."