The minimum wage in the province of Manitoba in the west-central Canada will rise from the current $11.95 per hour to $15 per hour on October 1, 2023.

This increase will be gradual to allow employers in the province to adapt and organize themselves.

Consultations will be held with small businesses to monitor the effects of this change.

The first phase of this increase will allow employees to receive a minimum wage of $13.50 per hour starting October 1, 2022.

“Our government recognizes the financial challenges many Manitoba residents face due to global inflation,” said the province's premier, Heather Stevenson.

Stevenson acknowledges that Manitoba is lagging behind other provinces in terms of wages.

We recognize that wages must be competitive to attract new workers and immigrants to Manitoba and retain them there.

For his part, the economics professor at the University of Saint Boniface in Winnipeg, the capital of Manitoba, Professor Faisal Zallama, believes that this salary increase will not only benefit workers.

With government support, companies can bear the pressure of these new costs that will achieve gains in the medium term. There will be more commitment and better availability of labor, which will avoid recruitment costs.

Quoted from Professor Faisal Zallama, economics professor at the University of Saint Boniface in Manitoba

But Professor Zallama expresses regret about the announced deadlines.

“Unfortunately, the Conservative government decided to buy time by waiting until October 2023, and this is a lost opportunity for Manitoba residents,” says Professor Zallama, originally from Tunisia.

It was originally planned for the minimum wage in Manitoba to rise to $12.35 per hour on next October 1, according to the current formula linking wage increases to inflation.

If that had happened, the minimum wage in Manitoba would have been the lowest in Canada, below the minimum wage in the neighboring western province of Saskatchewan, which will rise to $13 per hour on next October 1.

This new target of $13.50 per hour starting next October 1 was set after consultations with unions and business owners.

The second increase in minimum wage will come into effect on April 1, 2023, raising it to $14.15 per hour.

Stevenson's government had requested a joint committee of business owners and unions to provide a recommendation on minimum wage increase, but it failed to reach an agreement with them.

The group representing business owners requested a minimum wage between $13 and $14 per hour, while the unions requested $16.15 per hour.

The unions say that their demand represents a living wage as defined by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA).

“Unions will always be on one side and employers on the other. We believe the approach we took is fair and balanced to become a competitive region in the country,” explains the premier of Manitoba.

The unions see the government-announced increase as insufficient to face price inflation, while employers consider it too high for the business sector that suffered greatly from the COVID-19 pandemic, and therefore demand government financial support to absorb it.