Your March 29 editorial (Minimum Thinking) contained a number of incorrect facts about the recently announced increase to the B.C. minimum wage.
Of the 41,000 minimum wage earners in B.C. in 2009, only about half live at home (not 90 per cent as the editorial claimed).
The rest are single earners or part of a couple. Two thirds of minimum wage earners in B.C. are women.
The decision to increase the minimum wage was an important one, and one that was not made without careful consideration and consultation.
We've always recognized that our job creators - small business - need a stable, predictable approach to increasing the minimum wage.
At the same time, we need to ensure that our lowest income earners take home a salary that helps them support their families. That is the direction we've taken by phasing in an increase over the next 14 months.
When B.C.'s new minimum wage is fully implemented, a full-time worker will have about $4,000 more every year to help support themselves and their families. That's going to help them succeed and create a stronger future.
We also listened to employers in the food and beverage service industry. That's why we're introducing a liquor server wage that will reach $9 an hour on May 1, 2012.
This will be similar to what already exists in Ontario, where a liquor server rate has allowed the general minimum wage to increase while protecting jobs in the food and beverage service sector.
And as with the general minimum wage increase, this wage rate will be phased in to give employers the opportunity to adjust.
I'm proud to be part of this important step forward in our government's Families First agenda.
Stephanie Cadieux
Minister of Labour, Citizens' Services and Open Government
