Increased wages improves standard of living for all Canadians
By Dami Igbinyemi
Why should we increase minimum wage? Because it helps families keep up with the price of inflation while maintaining or improving standards of living. Increases wages tend to corollate with a rise in consumer spending. More consumer spending leads to job creation with benefits consumers and businesses.
In Budget 2021, the Government of Canada proposed to establish a federal minimum wage of $15 per hour. The Government announced that it will come into effect on December 29, 2021, following Royal Assent to Budget Implementation Act, 2021, No. 1. These changes will affect the workers in the federally regulated private sector such as interprovincial and international transportation, telecommunications, banking, uranium mining, most federal Crown corporations, grain services and Indigenous band councils.
“Every worker deserves dignity and honest pay for a hard day’s work. Our government has moved forward with a $15 per hour federal minimum wage because we know that it is a powerful tool when it comes to fighting poverty and improving the well-being of lower-income families and communities as a whole. Thousands of hard-working Canadians will see their incomes rise to at least $15 per hour as a result of this change, helping them with things like groceries, rent, sports or extracurricular activities for their kids.”
– Minister of Labour, Filomena Tassi
With Budget 2021, the government of Canada plan on breaking down barriers to full economic participation for all Canadians. This includes improving the Canada Workers Benefits to support 1 million more Canadians and take 100,000 people out of poverty.
As we move forward through this pandemic, the Canadian government is looking to improve Canada’s economic system, and this is an important step in building back better.
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