NDP looks to raise minimum wage to $18 an hour
By Lethbridge Herald on November 5, 2025.
Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Albertans could see a minimum wage increase for the first time in over seven years if the Alberta NDP manages to pass Bill 201, the Protect Workers’ Pay act.
In 2018, minimum wage in Alberta was set at $15 an hour, becoming the highest in the country at the time. Now, seven years later, it’s the lowest with no adjustments being made since the initial change.
Last week, Kathleen Ganley, MLA for Calgary-Mountain View, tabled the bill, which would increase minimum wage by $1 each year for three years, beginning this December, until it reaches $18/hr in Oct. 2027, following which minimum wage would be indexed to the Consumer Price Index (CPI) to grow with the cost of living.
Ganley says affordability is among the top concern for Albertans and she believes that the government can improve affordability is by increasing minimum wage.
“We believe that people should be able to get by just working one job, they should be able to afford to live on that basis, and right now that really isn’t the case for minimum wage workers, or honestly a lot of folks and I think the government needs to be doing something about it.”
The bill will also eliminate the minimum wage differential, which allows employers to pay as low as $13 an hour for students and youth under the age of 18. and will introduce tip protection provisions to ensure gratuities go directly to the workers who earn them.
Ganley says wages shouldn’t be solely based on a person’s age, pointing out many youth who are working are often saving for university and some may end up starting university and moving out before they turn 18.
“There was a time, not that long ago, where this also applied to women — their work wasn’t considered as valuable and were allowed to be paid less than men were paid for that work and now we apply it to young people who may or may not be working harder or less hard, but we can’t assume that.”
This is the NDP’s second time introducing tip protection to the Legislature. The original was voted down.
After additional consultation, they designed the bill so restaurants could still create a tipping pool, where employees share a portion of the pot, but prevents managers and owners to take a share of tips, unless they do the same work as other employees.
Ganley says this will protect both the employees and consumers.
A vote is expected to take place Nov. 18. If passed, the first minimum wage increase will take place on Dec. 15.
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Bad idea! When you raise the minimum wage, it causes inflation, it creates an endless cycle of raising the minimum wage, and doesn’t deal with the issues of unaffordability for low wage earners.
When it was raised from about $10 per hour to $15 it appeared to help low wage earners . . . short term, but those who were making $15 per hour wanted to be paid more and those making $20 per hour wanting to earn more and so on. It just doesn’t work!
The price of goods increases because many of the low wage earners work in agricultural jobs like farming, grocery stores, loading docks, gas stations, fast food industry jobs and other jobs which impact the product we purchase in stores, such as groceries.
Every time it increases it always works it’s way up to the higher paid jobs, causing increases in all products we purchase. Also . . . we are now in a global trade era . . . it makes it much harder to compete on the market internationally when the costs to produce the product increase.
It is a never ending cycle which doesn’t achieve the end goal in a long term manner!
There should be other ways to assist low income earners, such as low to no income taxes, free public transit, no GST/PST/HST on all purchases, free dental/prescription/healhcare and/or some form of supports or benefits or aids . . . there are better ways than increasing minimum wages.
Increasing mimimum wage misses a large group of pensioners who do not get those same increases reflected on their pension cheques so when food, rent, gas, utilities, etc., all go up . . . they are in financial trouble and are left behind, suffering in poverty!
Bad idea!!!!
min wage hardly affects inflation. it is corp greed and govt graft working in tandem – the oilgarchical approach – that impacts inflation. high lending rates, and of course interest on interest (compounded), and oil prices are the basis of inflation at all times, but, greed is so well out of hand now that inflation is beyond even those markers.
min wage affecting inflation is like a dust speck affecting an elephant.
Oh please! You seem to thrive on your Marxist-woke politics and your comment reflects the communist side Biff!
Basic accounting 101 – if the costs such as materials and labour increase, or the costs produce and move fruit, vegatables, meat, and other goods to the supermarket increase, so will the merchandise and groceries. When all of the cost increase, and they will it does inflate what we consume! You really think on a micro scale and fail to see the big picture in so many areas!
Just one example is when you go to a bar-restaurant, the cost to maintain the building itself, the furniture, the menus, the straws, the garnish, the napkins, the ice for drinks, the cash machines/tech, the payroll, basically everything is calculated into the labour costs, liquor costs and food costs all are factors of what the pricing will be on the menu, and the profit margin is not as big as many would think!
Now add to that all the increases from each of those necessary goods and services, which by themselves the costs have increased because of similar factors to make those supplies. The increases are compounded for each one of those products so that will need to be reflected on the menu!
I am a business owner downtown, so I wouldn’t expect you to understand this, but for those of us who need to watch every penny, I agree with pursuitdiver on this! There are better ways that increasing minimum.
Biff you seem to think we can just keep increasing wages with no impact! You are very wrong!
While it may drive up the cost of the product for those low/medium size businesses, it shouldn’t really effect the bottom dollar for corporations making billions of dollars in profit every year, such as Loblaws. The only reason why corporations would raise their prices if min wage increases is to appease the shareholders in the company.
“There is a sense in which the functioning of the labour market represents an important social contract to which we are all signatories. Part of that contract says that if people work, and work hard, they should expect that their share of the final product will allow them to live a life of dignity.
A wage structure with substantial inequality that includes people working full time but still ending up in poverty breaks that contract. The result is a society that does not function well, that turns on itself and breaks into groups, that is not as good a place to live, for anyone. The minimum wage can play a role in addressing the inequity of low wages.”
https://www.policyalternatives.ca/wp-content/uploads/attachments/CCPA-BC-Case-for-Incr-Minimum-Wage_0.pdf
There are 126,000 Albertans earning minimum wage, 6%. It is not a living wage it is an entry level wage. Meaning you prove yourself before a wage increase.
That is true Buckwheat! But there are no stats available which show how many earn $15.50 per hour, $16 or even $17 per hour and those numbers would be several hundred thousand.
Some other statistics state:
Increasing minimum wage will do nothing to solve the issues for low wage earners. There must be other ways, as I stated . . . if I had the answer I would be a billionaire, but I do know increasing the wage only increases the issues and the seniors population in Alberta who are on pension has to be around 500,000 at least, and the how will they survive it the minimum continues to increase, making it impossible for just pay their rent for example?
If you raise the minimum wage for workers, for those able to work full-time, then you will need to raise the AISH amount not only before working, but also raise the amount an AISH recipient can earn before amounts to be deducted. In the current format, an AISH recipient is allowed to earn $1072 before any claw back. This should be raised to anywhere from 1372 to 1572. Just my thoughts