(This is a file photo, not the money found at the Armstrong Liquor Store.) Photographer: Jennifer Stahn

Province promises to bump minimum wage to $11.25 by September 2017

THOMPSON-OKANAGAN – The provincial government has announced a minimum wage increase.

The minimum wage will go up 40 cents to $10.85 an hour as of Sept. 15, 2016, and then go up another 30 cents to $11.25 an hour one year later, the Ministry of Jobs, Tourism and Skills says in a press release.

The first increase includes a previously scheduled 10 cent increase from the province’s move last year to index the minimum wage to the consumer price index.

That will apply to next year’s increase as well and could add an estimated 10 cents to the base rate.

The ministry says the province is leading the country in economic growth and has the room to make the move.

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John McDonald

John began life as a journalist through the Other Press, the independent student newspaper for Douglas College in New Westminster. The fluid nature of student journalism meant he was soon running the place, learning on the fly how to publish a newspaper.

It wasn’t until he moved to Kelowna he broke into the mainstream media, working for Okanagan Sunday, then the Kelowna Daily Courier and Okanagan Saturday doing news graphics and page layout. He carried on with the Kelowna Capital News, covering health and education while also working on special projects, including the design and launch of a mass market daily newspaper. After 12 years there, John rejoined the Kelowna Daily Courier as editor of the Westside Weekly, directing news coverage as the Westside became West Kelowna.

But digital media beckoned and John joined Kelowna.com as assistant editor and reporter, riding the start-up as it at first soared then went down in flames. Now John is turning dirt as city hall reporter for iNFOnews.ca where he brings his long experience to bear on the civic issues of the day.

If you have a story you think people should know about, email John at jmcdonald@infonews.ca

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