Saskatchewan minimum wage rises, but remains among Canada’s lowest

Saskatchewan’s minimum wage has gone up: Today it jumped from $15.35 to $15.70, adding $14 in a 40-hour workweek.

Official response and confirmed impact

Despite the increase, Saskatchewan’s minimum wage remains the second-lowest in Canada, with only Alberta lower.

For instance, earlier this year, Saskatchewan’s Labour Relations Minister Ken Cheveldayoff said, “Our low personal tax rates also continue to make our province a great place to live, work and raise a family.”

But according to Peter Gilmer, an advocate with the Regina Anti-Poverty Ministry, the updated minimum wage doesn’t keep pace with the cost of living.

“The costs for low-income people, the costs for basic necessities, are the costs that are rising the quickest,” he said.

He used the examples of food, housing, clothing, and utilities to explain how these basics — which people of all income levels depend on — are rising rapidly in price.

Gilmer said Saskatchewan’s minimum wage hasn’t kept pace to support those increases.

“Over several years, we’ve been competing for the lowest minimum wage in the country, and there was a time a few decades back that we were regularly competing for the highest minimum wage in the country.