By David Opinko (Lethbridge News Now)

Minimum Wage

Panel announced to review Alberta’s minimum wage

Aug 15, 2019 | 3:41 PM

Labour and Immigration Minister Jason Copping says an independent panel of experts will review the impacts of the province’s minimum wage on the economy.

It will consist of nine people, including academics, business owners, and servers.

• Joseph Marchand, associate professor of economics, University of Alberta
• Anindya Sen, professor of economics
• Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president (Western Canada), Restaurants Canada
• Richard Truscott, vice-president, British Columbia and Alberta, Canadian Federation of Independent Business
• Jason Stanton, owner, Running Room
• Branko Culo, owner of Express Employment and member of Alberta Enterprise Group
• Delphine Borger, server, Blink Restaurant, Calgary
• Rachel Donnelly, server, Chop Steakhouse
• Nicole Lyckama, server, Blink Restaurant, Calgary

The panel will be lead by Marchand, who says they will look into all available economic data of the “NDP’s 50 per cent increase in the minimum wage”.

Another key focus will be analyzing whether liquor servers would make more money with a lower minimum wage by potentially being given more hours or earning more in tips. Since Alberta now has a unified minimum wage for liquor servers and general wage floor earners, the panel would compare the province’s data to Ontario, Quebec, and B.C. where liquor servers can be paid less.

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Copping told media during a press conference Thursday, however, that there is no plan to lower the current $15/hour general minimum wage.

Effectively July 1st, 2019, the United Conservative government introduced the “job creation student wage”, where those under the age of 18 can be paid $13/hour. More details here.