Protest in Halifax urges boosting minimum wage to $15 an hour

First at Five – October 2 First at Five looks at both sides of the wage debate in the Maritimes where minimum wage is the among lowest in the country.

A protest to raise the minimum wage began on Dalhousie campus and wound up at a local MLA's office.

It’s all part of a campaign called Fight for Fifteen and Fairness – and a minimum wage of $15 an hour.

“Yesterday marks the day on which Nova Scotia becomes the province with the lowest minimum wage in the country, so we're protesting that,” said labour lawyer Katrin MacPhee.

It's certainly the lowest in the Maritimes. Prince Edward Island has the highest minimum wage at $11.55 an hour, New Brunswick is next at $11.20 and Nova Scotia’s at the bottom at $11 per hour.

That, say the protestors, isn't enough to live on.

“Isee students suffering every day under the cost of textbooks, deciding between groceries and classes,” said Lianne Xiao King's Student Union president.

And it’s not just students they say.

Taylor MacLean is a full-time cleaner.

“A living wage would be about, $20 an hour in today's economy, but, I mean, baby steps, right?” MacLean said with a chuckle.

For some people at the rally, this is a simple and straightforward issue, but business people say there's nothing straightforward, or simple about it at all.

This candy store, first in a chain of locations, hires a lot of young people, but the owner says fifteen dollars an hour would simply be too much.

“If we have a very young person, with no experience starting, it would be very hard to integrate them, immediately at $15 an hour, and still reward other people, in a small business like this,” said store owner Jeremy Smith.

He says a Calgary store wasn't viable after the increase in the minimum wage there went up to fifteen dollars and  he was forced to shut it down.

The biggest bill for some small businesses is for labour, but restaurant owner Mary Ellen Planetta says she could handle the increase under the right circumstances.

“I think if it was to happen overnight, it would adversely affect my bottom line,” Planetta said. “I think if we were to phase it in over a period of a year or two, then I think it could be something we could roll with.”

There have been some media reports that businesses in Ontario and Alberta are generally doing well, despite the hike in the minimum wages in those provinces.

Regardless of the impact a $15 minimum wage has had, or not had, in other provinces, the McNeil government has repeatedly made it clear their position is that $15 an hour is too much for businesses in this province to bear, at least, in the immediate future.

With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ron Shaw.