I have to take issue with Mr. Breakenridge’s recent column about the NDP government and the minimum wage. He quotes the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) about the loss of jobs that will be precipitated by the minimum wage increase. Between May of 2011 and May of 2012, the BC government increased their minimum wage from $8 to $10.25 an hour a 27% increase and the CFIB predicted doom.
They stated each 10% increase in minimum wage would cost the province between 92,300 and 321,300 jobs. A 27% increase would cost BC between 249,210 jobs and 867,510 jobs. Did BC lose hundreds of thousands of jobs? No, the BC unemployment rate went from 7.5% to 6.8%. Now they’re predicting between 50,290 and 183,300 jobs lost. They got it wrong in BC, but Mr. Breakenridge uncritically repeats their numbers, maybe he could practice some journalism.