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Minimum Wage Rises In Six Canadian Provinces

Six provinces across Canada raised their minimum wage on October 1.

Ontario, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland each lifted their minimum wage to help workers with the rising cost of living.

Several other provinces have plans to raise their minimum wage in coming months.

The minimum wage in Ontario, Alberta, British Columbia and the three northern territories have each reached $15 an hour.

Some labour advocates say $15 an hour is no longer a sufficient minimum wage given that inflation in Canada is at a 30-year high.

However, several business groups say the minimum wage increases come at a difficult time as they struggle to recover from pandemic shutdowns of their restaurants, stores, and other venues.

Some businesses across the country have threatened to respond to the higher minimum wage by raising prices or reducing their hours of operation.