P.E.I. minimum wage increases on Canada Day

The minimum wage on P.E.I. goes up on July 1from $10.35 an hour to $10.50.

The announcement of the increase was actually made back in Decemberbut is just coming into effect now.

P.E.I. Federation of Labourpresident Carl Purseysaidit's a step in the right direction but should be much higher.

"It's still no where's near enough because workers need to make a living income so they can put food on their tables and that type of thing for when they are working," said Pursey."And they just can't do iteven at $10.50 ...It should be at least $12 an hour if not more."

The Minister of Workforce and Advanced Learning Richard Brown said for years the minimum wagewas tied to the cost of living but in2007, the P.E.I. governmentbroke that trend and surpassed that.

"Right now if we were continuing on the path of cost of living, the minimum wage would be around $8.50," said Brown. "And that's why we broke from that trend and in the past seven or eight years we've been increasing it higher than the [consumer price index] and we think that's just the right thing to do."

OnMonday,Alberta announced its minimum wage is going up by $1 starting this October to $11.20, with the goal of an increase to $15 an hour by 2018.

Brown saidthe P.E.I. government will be looking at what happens there and in other provinces as part of a continuous review.