Burnaby Joins Municipal Campaign

The full report and recommendation adopted by the Burnaby Social Issues Committee on Nov. 9 and by Burnaby City Council on Nov. 20 can be found here.

Find out how to get your city council to pass a similar motion

Nov 22, 2006: Burnaby Now

Minimum wage hike wanted

But council divided on whether increases will be good for B.C.'s economy

Burnaby city council will ask the provincial government to increase income assistance and raise the minimum wage, but some councillors are concerned that raising wages could cause more poverty and unemployment.

At Monday night's Burnaby city council meeting, councillor Sav Dhaliwal, chair of the social issues committee recommended that Mayor Derek Corrigan write to Premier Gordon Campbell and Claude Richmond, minister
of employment and income assistance.

The letter will ask the province to increase the minimum wage and to increase income assistance rates, extend earning exemption to all people on income assistance and eliminate the three-week wait time, two-year independence test and other barriers to receiving income assistance.

"Income assistance rates in B.C. have not changed over the last 12 years and are widely acknowledged for being inadequate of meeting the needs of low-income individuals and families in B.C.," Dhaliwal said, adding that last year B.C. ranked as having one of the lowest income assistance rates in the country.

"As a result, reliance on food banks and other community based assistance has risen, and low-income families have become increasingly vulnerable. In fact, they are facing challenges in securing and attaining rental housing."

He said the province needs to address these issues and extend earning exemptions to all people on income assistance. He said earning exemptions are to help those on assistance return to the labour force by allowing them to retain all or a portion of their earnings.

Most provinces and territories in the country, he said, allow people to retain a portion of their earned income. He said B.C. is the only province where this is not allowed. He said this doesn't provide any incentives for them to return to work.

Applying for income assistance, he said, is a "last resort." He said when people have to wait three weeks or have to have a two-year independence test with bureaucratic barriers, people find it difficult to rely on income assistance.

Dhaliwal said the minimum wage also needs to be increased.

"Minimum wage has not changed since 2001. It was set at $8 at that time. Considering the inflation of two per cent every year since 2002, that $8 is now five years behind."

He said a single full-time worker on minimum wage makes about $16,000 a year, just above the low-income cutoff line. He said about 75 per cent of people who are low-income are not single or young people.

"Living on minimum wage just does not cut it anymore."

But Coun. Garth Evans said that, although he supports the recommendation, the premier has already agreed to substantially raise the rates for income assistance.

"I think it needs to be noted that the province is aware of the problem and they are planning to do something about it."

He also said increasing minimum wage may not be the answer.

"I've heard a lot of talk about how this is going to alleviate poverty. It's a two-edged sword because, as you increase wages, you reduce jobs and may increase unemployment, so that needs to be looked at very carefully before we increase wages," he said. "It does not automatically decrease poverty. It may actually increase it."

He said, however, that he supports the recommendations because the province needs to do more.

"People need the income assistance right away. They don't need to wait."

Coun. Dan Johnston said that, three to four years ago, the premier created the problem by slashing programs, such as day-care and social assistance rates. He said bringing in longer waiting times and disqualifying many people from various social assistance has increased homelessness, destitution and suicide.

"I think that we, as a society, have a responsibility to ensure that all our citizens have a respectable, livable wage, and we need to, as a society, come to a mechanism where there aren't people left behind."

He said people should be on a level of income that allows them to be "respectable members of society" without having to rely on food banks.

"Nobody wants to live in that environment."

Coun. Pietro Calendino said the provincial government's policies are not acceptable.

"In 2002, when the new policies came in, all it did was made a bad situation even worse for people of low income and people on social assistance."

He said people talk about B.C.'s great economy, but people need to think about who is benefiting from it.

"Certainly it doesn't seem to be benefiting the poor people and the people at the low end of the scale, and I think it is time we start looking at the people who are living under the poverty line."

He said the government should at least provide a wage high enough to feed families and prevent children from being ashamed at school if they can't wear the same clothes other kids wear.

"I think that is sinful in a wealthy society like we have today."

He said those on low incomes need proper exemptions to receive training so they can enter the work force. He said if the government did this, not only would the people benefit, the government would too because those on low income would get off income assistance sooner.

"It's obvious to everybody except policy makers."

He said increasing minimum wage would not cause more poverty.

"It couldn't be further from the truth," he said, adding that B.C. has the lowest minimum training wage in the country at $6 an hour. He said other countries, including the U.S., England and Sweden, have higher
minimum wages.

"It's not affecting their economy negatively," he said, adding that those on low income don't have any disposable income they can contribute to the economy.

"If we take away the disposable income of people, the economy goes down, not up."

Coun. Colleen Jordan noted that the social issues committee had the discussion earlier as a result of a request from the Raise the Rates Campaign, spearheaded by Jean Swanson and Alan James.

"It's not us on our own in this regard. The impact on our city, as everyone realizes, is growing daily."

The report asks for the government to raise minimum wage to at least $10 an hour. It notes that most people believe those earning a minimum wage are single and young people. But, according to the B.C. Statistics Earning and Employment Trend data, of the 72,600 minimum-wage earners in B.C. in 2001, 80 per cent of them were families.

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Erin Hitchcock