British Columbia Launches Fair Wages Commission To Decide On $15 Minimum Wage
The Canadian Press, 05 Oct, 2017 04:33 PM
VICTORIA — British Columbia's labour minister has appointed an economist to lead a commission to advise the government on boosting the province's minimum wage to $15 an hour.
Prof. Marjorie Griffin Cohen of Simon Fraser University will chair the Fair Wages Commission, which also includes Ken Peacock, vice-president at the Business Council of British Columbia, and Ivan Limpright, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
The commission is expected to deliver a report with a timeline to raise the minimum wage within 90 days of its first meeting.
The New Democrats had previously set a deadline of 2021 to raise the minimum wage but Labour Minister Harry Bains said that will now be up to the commission to determine.
"We want to de-politicize this whole process so that they consult with small businesses, consult with workers, consult with the community leaders to make sure that they come back with the recommendations that will give small businesses at least a gradual, predictable, and common sense increases so they have certainty to adjust their cost of labour over a period of time," he said.
The NDP had promised to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour but after forming a government it agreed with the Green party to set up a commission that would oversee regular rate reviews.
A Canada-wide arrest warrant has been issued for a Vatican diplomat accused of uploading child pornography to a social networking site while inside a Windsor, Ont., church over the Christmas period last year.
Medical professionals and body artists say the practice of tattooing the eyeball, which recently left an Ottawa woman facing the prospect of vision loss, is on the rise despite its many risks.
Toronto has topped the list of major global cities most at risk of a housing bubble with Vancouver ranking fourth, according to a new report by UBS Group AB.
"The guide and hunter knew that the bear was collared prior to harvest," the service said in an email. "This was a legal hunt and no investigation is underway."
