City Manager Jeff Trail will be reporting back to Common Council about calls for a living wage and what, if anything, the city can do. It’s believed a living wage in Saint John would be around $15 an hour. By comparison, a living wage in Vancouver is more than $20 an hour.
Common Councillor John MacKenzie says if poverty in Saint John is to be reduced, it will take a concerted effort by all three levels of government as well as the community. MacKenzie points to Jamie Hall as an example. Hall’s construction company, Catapult, hires mostly unemployed or hard done by people with skills.
Randy Hatfield of the Human Development Council says a lot of people in the city are having a tough time of it with 3 or 4 food banks in Saint John exploding with use and the Outflow men’s shelter often filled to capacity.
Hatfield is confident progress will be made on homelessness with agreement on a housing first strategy.
