Manitoba's minimum wage to rise to $11.35 in October

The province said it will raise Manitoba’s hourly minimum wage by 20 cents on Oct. 1, 2018, to $11.35.

The increase is in keeping with provincial legislation passed in 2017 to tie minimum wage increases to the annual rate of inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index.

Growth, Enterprise and Trade Minister Blaine Pedersen said the government is committed to providing “sustainable and predictable increases to Manitoba’s minimum wage,” in a news release Wednesday.

The release said Manitoba’s rate of inflation was 1.6 per cent in 2017, and the 20 cent increase was arrived at after rounding up to the nearest five cents.

The date the wage goes up is the same date Alberta will increase its hourly minimum wage to $15, to be followed by Ontario in January of 2019.

Currently, the lowest minimum wage in Canada can be found in Saskatchewan, at $10.96 per hour, where the government has legislated that increases be tied to both the Consumer Price Index and the percentage change of average hourly wages in the province.

The federal government lists current minimum wages across Canada and coming increases on its website.