Gordon Campbell's Trickle-down on Minimum Wage Earners

As of today, BC has the lowest minimum wage in Canada - $8 per hour or $6 per hour for “entry-level jobs.”

The New Brunswick government boosted its minimum wage to $8.25 per hour, turning BC from, leader to laggard. NB Labour Minister Donald Arseneault called the province's previous $7.75 minimum wage, formerly the lowest in Canada, "embarrassing."

During the recent election, the governing Liberal Party said that raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour - the BC New Democrats' position - "could conservatively result in BC losing well over 50,000 jobs."

Weird. Only about 50,000 people earn minimum wage in BC, according to the latest stats.

Raising the wages of top BC government bureaucrats was an entirely different matter. Raising those wages (up to 43% increase in some cases) was needed to "attract the best the country has to offer."

Alberta raised its minimum wage last April to $8.40 because the province was "experiencing a time of great prosperity."

Now that the good times are over, what's going to help out the little guy toiling away for minimum wage on Canada's Left Coast? Trickle-down economics, that's what!

Gordo and the BC Liberals now swear that their Harmonized Sales Tax scheme - something that was not "contemplated in the BC Liberal platform" - will save the stinking BC economy.

Yessiree, the HST will "decrease bureaucracy and regulatory costs, increase productivity, raise wages and create more jobs."

Wow. A new tax on bikes, new houses, clothing, furniture and haircuts will create jobs. I must have missed that day in Economics 101.