The Saint John sign. (Image: Brad Perry)
The cost of living in places like Halifax and Saint John is still going up, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. A “living wage” in Halifax is now $21.80 per hour and in Saint John that number is $19.55.
The report notes that the cost of housing has gone up significantly in two years in both cities; with nine per cent increase for Halifax and 12.5 per cent for Saint John. In Halifax, people on average spend 27 percent of their budget on housing costs.
“Every year, more working people are under tremendous stress to cover all their basic needs, let alone the essentials required to participate as full members of our society,” reads the report, which was released September 2.
“Many continually seek ways to fill gaps left by inadequate income, whether by visiting food banks or community suppers, or seeking out other community supports that provide discounted or free goods and services.”
A living wage is described as the hourly income needed to cover a family’s basic needs and live in relative comfort. Given that the minimum wage in Nova Scotia is $12.55 and just $11.70 in New Brunswick, this suggests a lot of people are living in poverty.
“The living wage movement arose in response to the stagnation of wages alongside an increase in work that is part-time, without security and benefits,” claims the Centre for Policy Alternatives. “People could no longer rely on long-term employment contracts. Governments allowed legislated minimum wages to erode in value and labour standards became outdated and inadequate to protect the health and well-being of workers.”
The report makes two bold recommendations: for employers to start paying living wages, and for governments to implement a $15 an hour minimum wage within two years.
The debate over minimum wages, living wages, and universal basic income has been hot for years now. The nation-wide CERB payments put an even stronger focus on the discussion, with unemployed Canadians receiving $2,000 a month.
Whenever a significant increase to minimum wage is increased, it is often met with warnings from small business owners that such things aren’t affordable.
David Duplisea, CEO of the Saint John Region Chamber of Commerce, says a lot of small businesses operate on thin profit margins and can’t afford a huge minimum wage hike.
“It would cause severe challenges for small businesses to raise that to $15 within two years and you would see unintended consequences,” said Duplisea.
The Chamber CEO says some of the unintended consequences of a large minimum wage hike could be reduced hours, and more part-time positions rather than full time.
Duplisea says he and the Chamber recognize that poverty exists in Saint John. He believes all stakeholders in the city need to come together to discuss solutions, such as providing more education to the workforce.
“I think there needs to be a recognition that the problem is there and bring in these stakeholder groups together … to define solutions,” he said.
“If the ultimate goal of these policies is to reduce poverty … then you need to bring education into the equation. How do we make sure that people are better qualified? We can start to implement jobs training programs…”
One Halifax woman (we will call her Amy because she requested anonymity), has worked minimum wage jobs all her life. She has just a high school education which has limited the amount of money she makes. After entering her 50’s Amy started working part time jobs at just above minimum wage. Prior to the pandemic, she was making $12 an hour at a Booster Juice stand (the minimum wage before April 1 was $11.55).
“You don’t (make ends meet),” she said. “You pay what you can, when you can.”
“I live alone, and my rent is skyrocketing. It just went up $100.”
Many times over the years Amy had little money left after rent and has had power, cable, phone, and internet disconnected. She has also relied on food banks frequently. Amy says she is grateful that she has had friends and family over the years who have helped support her financially.
“I don’t even want to think about where I’d be without (support from friends and family). I see it daily; people who are struggling. I have a niece who has two babies and a husband who works his ass off and makes a fair amount of money and they still don’t make ends meet.”
Amy says it’s hard to work full time due to her age, but even when she worked full time hours it was difficult to get by on a minimum wage job. At one point she was a single mother working on a full-time minimum wage job.
But she has been more comfortable financially since Canada started releasing the CERB payments, which Amy qualified for. Being able to rely on $2,000 every month gave her a seldom-known comfort.
“I’m going to tell you, I am incredibly thankful for that,” said Amy. “The money is nice, but the thing I feel better about is the security that comes with it. Knowing that when my power bill comes in the mail, I’m going to be able to go online and pay it.”
After receiving CERB, and spending her life hovering around minimum wage, Amy believes a universal basic income is the logical step forward.
Derek Montague is a report with Huddle, an Acadia Broadcasting content partner.
