Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I have questions to the Minister of Education, Culture and Employment about his statement today on increasing the minimum wage in the Northwest Territories.
Can the Minister indicate to me, did the department look at the economic impact of increasing this minimum wage?
Thank you, Mr. Bouchard. Minister of Education, Mr. Lafferty.
Mahsi, Mr. Speaker. As I stated, we did establish a committee that did their research across the Northwest Territories and outside the Northwest Territories with our provincial counterparts. So we did look into those matters as well. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.
I sent that information out when the department sent out the minimum wage, and I got a pretty good response that most people had concerns about it affecting the minimum wage people, the students and those people that are around the minimum wage.
Does this entice businesses to cut back on employment by increasing this minimum wage? Has that been looked at?
Those are just some of the areas that we did seriously look at, as well, whether it be small business or big business. But at the same time, I did make a statement that most of the organizations pay well beyond $10 an hour and there’s just a small number that’s still paying $10 an hour. So those are areas that we explored. We did our research. We have worked with businesses as well. We had the Chamber of Commerce, both NWT and Yellowknife, so that covers the broad sector of organizations. We want to make sure we cover all areas, which we have done. Mahsi.
That is exactly my point. I think most people think it’s a good thing to get an increase in wages, obviously, but the minimum wage earners that are there are the students out there, the students that are coming back, the students that are working after school. If we have increased that minimum wage by 25 percent, I am thinking that some of those employers will consider cutting back on those types of positions, so have we looked at that impact?
Yes, we have looked at those potential impacts, and the research is telling us that there is minimal impact in those areas.
Again, most of the businesses are paying well beyond $10 an hour. When we did our research, $12 to $15 per hour is the starting point for these businesses. We have talked to a lot of businesses and they have already told us, a lot of them, that they are way beyond $10 per hour. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Final, short supplementary, Mr. Bouchard.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Does this increase in the minimum wage include, have we considered the impact on the subsidy programs that we do for students in the summertime? Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mr. Speaker, these are just some of the areas that we have initiated as a department. We have considered those areas for our students as well. As Minister Miltenberger has indicated, we have met with various students in Ottawa. That’s a starting point for us. We want to track those students to come back to the North and create employment for them here in the Northwest Territories. This is a really good starting point as an increase in minimum wage from $10 to $12.50 an hour on June 1st. That is a really good news item. We have shared that with the students, as well, and they are quite happy with that as well. Mahsi.
Thank you, Mr. Lafferty. Member for Deh Cho, Mr. Nadli.
