Does the BC Liberals New Training Wage Help Or Harm
Inexperienced Workers?

By: Kevin Milos

On the 29th of October,
the BC Liberal government
fulfilled its election promise
to raise the provincial mini-
mum wage to the highest in
Canada. At a new rate of
$8.00 an hour, BC is the
most desirable place to be
employed in a minimum
wage position. This has had
a number of effects on BC’s
labour market. For starters,
a lot of unskilled workers
migrate to BC in the hopes
of finding work, including stu-
dents who travel here during
the summer months.

However, on the flip side
businesses are acutely
aware of the increased costs
of minimum wage employ-
ment in BC.- For this reason,
the ones who are mostly
dependent on unskilled
labour are more likely not to
hire as many employees as
they might in another
province which has a lower
minimum wage.

The obvious problem is
that there are more potential
employees available than
there are employers who are
willing to hire them. The
group who takes the brunt of
the impact is the youth who
are competing for the $8.00
an hour minimum wage jobs
alongside people who
already have experience.
Students who are looking for
summer work can also be
grouped into this category.

Consequently, due to
this high wage/employment
imbalance, BC faces the
highest youth unemployment
rate in western Canada,
coming in at 13.6 percent.
This can be compared with
Alberta’s 8.4 percent,
Saskatchewan's 10.5 per-
cent and Manitoba’s 8.8 per-
cent.

There is obviously a
problem in BC then, and the
BC Liberals realized that if
they were to fulfill their elec-
tion promise of raising the
minimum wage, they were
simply going to amplify the
problem. She solution? A
$6.00 an hour “first-time”
minimum wage which will
apply to the first 500 hours
of paid employment, which is
roughly equivalent to six

months of full time employ-
ment. The implementation
of such a system would see
BC following in the footsteps
of other jurisdictions such as
the Northwest Territories,
Ontario, Washington and
California.

The underlying logic of
such a policy is clear and the
BC Liberals advocate that it
will “recognize the valuable
service employers provide to
new workers and the fact
that it can take several
months before new workers
are fully trained,” according
to Graham Bruce, BC’s min-
ister of Skills Development
and Labour. He adds, “the
first job rate will increase
youth employment by giving
employers a new incentive to
hire young people without
experience.”

Maybe so. We'll have to
wait and see. Yet others are
already very concerned
about the situation. Peter
Dempster, who represents
the Simon Fraser Student
Society, is extremely con-
cerned about the negative
consequences which this
could have on students,
many of whom are young
and inexperienced, if not
seasonal as well. He goes
as far as to label the actions
of the BC Liberals as “a bla-
tant abuse of young, inexpe-
rienced workers...when the
BC government said that
they. wouldn’t roll back the
minimum wage, young
British Columbians assumed
that they wouldn’t be
exempt.” Dempster also
points out the problem that
“there is nothing preventing
a company from hiring
someone at the low wage
and then firing them, or fail-
ing to pay them the higher
wage.” Although the Liberals
provide for a clause in the
bill stating that this sort of
unethical practice is illegal,
most people realize that the
real world is different from
the theoretical political one.
For example, concerns have
been raised about such a
policy actually making it
more difficult for workers
with over 500 hours of
employment to find a job
since they will be competing
with other workers who can

potentially be employed for
only $6.00 an hour. Maybe
this is the point of the bill: to
out-compete experienced
workers.

Dempster notes that “the
potential for abuse is clear,
but the benefits are not,” and
has a good point. Many
questions are still unan-
swered such as what the
effects of such legislation will
be on single mothers and stu-
dents, or a growing popula-
tion of single mothers who
are students. Either way, full
time employees falling under
the 500 hour mark are going
to be making about $320 less
than they would if they were
employed at the full’ wage,
which will surely mean a
higher debt load in the long

run.

By: Stephanie Wilson

On October 24th, the
Young Liberals of Canada
hosted a youth forum open to
all students. Josh Bredo,
president of the Prince
George-Bulkley Valley Young
Liberals, hoped that those in
attendance: “would gain a
better understanding of the
federal Liberal Party. Young
Liberals of Canada is the
most powerful youth organi-
zation in the country, and
also an excellent opportunity
for youth of all ages to get
involved in the way the coun-
try is run.” Robert .Beischer,
the UNBC liaison, Tracy
Boychuck, president of the
Prince-George-Bulkley Valley
Federal Liberal Association,
and Linda Chartier, president
of the National Women’s
Liberal Commission, also
represented the organization.

There were many varied
opinions at the youth forum,
and all will be taken into con-
sideration when the Young
Liberals examine Liberal
Party policy. According to
Bredo, “We manage to shape
Liberal Party policy time and
time again.” Understandably,
the newly-proposed anti-ter-
rorism bill (Bill C-36) was dis-
cussed at length. Some felt it

Delay on Smoking Ban

Dear Editor:
Re:Delay of WCB regula-
tions.

We as Canadians have
set their clocks back by one
hour. Unfortunately here in
BC, our clocks have already
been set back by the govern-
ment's recent decision to
delay the implementation of
the WCB smoke-free regula-
tions for a further eight
months.

While the rest of Canada
is moving forward to create
safe, smoke-free environ-
ments for workers and the
general public, BC may be
moving backwards towards a
"general ventilation solution"
that has been discredited by
scientific and health authori-
ties worldwide. Scientists
agree that due to

the limitations of ventila-
tion systems, toxins and car-

Youth Forum

was not something to get
worked up over, while others
argued that it will infringe on
their personal freedoms if it
passes without amendment.
Student loans and the pro-
posal to exempt medical stu-
dents from paying back their
loans if they agree to work in
a northern community for a
set period of time, extending
the amount of time granted to
pay back the loans, and job
opportunities in general
sparked much _ debate.
Feelings towards to universal
health care and child care
were mutual: they are impor-

Josh Bredo, President of the Prince ‘George-Bulkley
Valley Young Liberbrals of Canada, spoke on October 24
th in the Canfor Theater about youth issues as it relates

cinogens in cigarette smoke
cannot be removed from the
air before reaching the
breathing zone of

workers and customers;
it would take a tornado-like
air flow to protect workers
from the hazardous effects of
second-hand smoke.

At a time when citizens
are looking for leadership, it
is disheartening to think this
government may reject the
overwhelming scientific and
economic evidence around
smoke-free legislation and
allow BC workers to contin-
ued to be poisoned by sec-
ond-hand smoke. Ventilation
is not a solution.

Sincerely,

Bobbe Wood,

Chief Executive Officer

Heart and Stroke
Foundation of B.C. & Yukon

tant. “Universal child care
would allow teen moms to go
to university,” said Beischer.
The ‘war on terrorism’ was
passionately debated from a
variety of angles, while a dis-
cussion on taxes and tax cuts
rounded out the evening.
The wealth of viewpoints
offered by the students left
the organization with much to
think about regarding Liberal
Party policy. According to
Beischer, it is all about the
“power of the _ student.
Initiative, desire, passion —
this facilitates change.”

Photo; By» Dia