In just over a month and a half, the minimum wage in Alberta is scheduled to rise to $15 an hour which gives the Airdrie Chamber of Commerce and other Alberta Chambers not a lot of time to lobby the government to reconsider their decision.  

The Executive Director of the Airdrie Chamber, Marie Lauer says while she doesn't hold out much hope that the government will relent, they owe it to their small business members to keep up the pressure.

"I'm sure you can appreciate it's not easy to change government, especially on the provincial level, but we feel we need to try on behalf of our small business community."

Lauer insists that the Airdrie Chamber isn't out to see minimum wage earners hurt but she feels the government hasn't thought things through.

"The provincial government is really implementing these changes because they want to give low-income earners a better chance of having a good quality of life but what they fail to realize is that even though people are making more money, they're also paying more taxes and the cost of goods sold is going up because businesses have to cover their costs.  At the end of the day, the money going into the low-income earner's pockets is not as great as one would assume given the changes in the minimum wage."

Lauer says the Chamber is adding a letter template to their latest newsletter that will allow members of the Chamber to write to Alberta Labour Minister Christina Gray to let them add personal stories on how the minimum wage hikes have impacted and will impact, their businesses.

At its current rate of $13.60 per hour, Alberta has the second highest minimum wage in the country after Ontario at $14 per hour.  With the increase scheduled for October 1st, Alberta's minimum wage will rise to the highest in the country. 

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