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By John Horgan
Leader, B.C. New Democrats
VICTORIA— Too many people in British Columbia are working full time or more just to keep their heads above water.
That’s why I want to make sure the lowest paid workers in British Columbia get a raise. I’m pledging to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour by the end of my first term as premier.
Christy Clark wants you to believe minimum wage is only something 15-year-olds living with their parents earn. But the truth is there are tens of thousands of hard-working students, parents, seniors, new Canadians and new workers in every part of the economy who struggle to make ends meet while earning minimum wage.
It’s not good enough. We can do better, and we will do better.
Christy Clark is going to try to tell you that having one of the lowest minimum wages in the country isn’t a problem, just like she pretends that the out-of-control cost of living in British Columbia isn’t a problem.
But this is a premier who takes a $50,000 salary top-up from her party, because apparently the $200,000 she’s paid by B.C. taxpayers isn’t enough. If you’re working a minimum wage job, she figures a boost of 40 cents – from $10.45 an hour to $10.85 an hour – should cut it. I disagree, and I think most British Columbians do too.
The truth is, Premier Christy Clark doesn’t want to talk about affordability in this province.
Remember when she promised to put ‘families first’? Those days are long gone. Today, Christy Clark’s rich political donors are the ones that come first, and B.C. families and the issues they care about don’t even make the priority list for her B.C. Liberals.
Christy Clark spends so much time in her private jet, and sitting across the table from donors who paid $20,000 to talk to her, she’s lost touch with real life in this province.
People I speak with across the province know the cost of living is soaring. Housing prices and rents are skyrocketing, and every year, the B.C. Liberals take more out of the pockets of British Columbians – more in MSP, hydro, ICBC, bus fares, ferry fares, tuition, and even camping fees – making it harder than ever for regular people to pay the bills.
Meanwhile, the premier’s big economic promises have fallen flat.
What happened to the 100,000 LNG jobs the premier promised British Columbians? They never materialized. What about the eight new mines she was going to open by 2015? In the past 13 months alone, seven mines have closed, putting hundreds out of work. In fact, since 2014 more than 2,500 direct mining jobs have been lost in B.C.
In the premier’s own riding, unemployment is so high, the federal government has declared that the Southern Interior now qualifies for extra Employment Insurance benefits.
Affordability isn’t a Southern Interior problem, just like it isn’t a Lower Mainland problem. Right across this province, people are working hard but struggling to make ends meet.
I think British Columbians are tired of waiting for action from a government that does nothing but put them last. It’s time to make life in this province more affordable, and that’s exactly what a New Democrat government would do – starting with getting to a $15 minimum wage in our first term in office.
