The NDP is reaffirming its position to increase minimum wage to $15 if it becomes the next government in Nova Scotia.
Leader Gary Burrill visited Bridgewater yesterday to announce the plan.
Burrill says a minimum $15 an hour will help 130,000 Nova Scotians out of poverty.
“Forty-five percent of people who work for minimum wage in Nova Scotia are working for very large corporations. We also know that 40 percent of people who live below the poverty line in Nova Scotia have full-time jobs and work year-round.”
Burrill says the initiative would be implemented in three stages by 2020 under an NDP government.
The current minimum wage is $10.85.
Burrill says an increase of $1.00 would come as early as January 1, 2018 followed by raises of $1.575 on January 1, 2019 and 2020.
Meanwhile, one local small business owner thinks a $15 minimum wage would help everyone.
Michelle Engel and her husband own Fancy Pants Cafe on King Street in Bridgewater.
She says it wouldn’t be an easy transition but the benefit would outweigh the hardship.
“I do believe that if everybody was making that wage then our economy could grow and people could potentially have a little bit more disposable income, I feel like ultimately it could be good for small businesses.”
Engel says she can understand why some business owners might feel intimidated by a $15 minimum wage.
But she says ultimately it’s the right thing to do.
Burrill also stated an NDP government would uphold the Liberals capital commitments that were announced before the election call.
Burrill disagrees with the Liberals approach of having no money for the last three-and-a-half years before announcing tens of millions of dollars in funding right before an election.
He says a government should begin investing at day one of their mandate.