You need to make $25.13 per hour in Squamish to survive as a young family.
The living wage, meaning the hourly income that both working parents with two young children must earn to meet basic expenses, was calculated by local charity Squamish Community Foundation in partnership with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and Living Wage for Families BC.
The foundation notes that "basic expenses" include rent, child care, food and transportation after government taxes, credits, deductions and subsidies are taken into account.
It does not include debt repayment or savings.
Put another way, the 2023 Living Wage Update report shows a family of four in Squamish must earn a gross household income of $91,000.
The report notes that paying for housing alone takes approximately $2,600 per month from a family's budget, while food eats up about $1,300 per month.
This 2023 report is the first time the foundation has completed this study.
"The living wage is a powerful tool that communicates how much workers need to earn to lead a fulfilling life," said Karen Clarke, the executive director of the Squamish Community Foundation, in a news release.
"By championing a living wage, the Squamish Community Foundation is advocating for economic justice. Our goal is to highlight what our community members need in order to pursue their aspirations without the worry of financial instability."
The foundation also aims to encourage the municipality and businesses to become certified living wage employers.
Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish Nation) has been such an employer since July 2020.
"Being a living wage employer helps us show that we value our employees by ensuring they earn enough to take care of their families and also build a strong and healthy Squamish Nation community," said K’ana Deborah Baker, a councillor with the Nation, in the release.
"We strongly encourage all other employers in the community to join us in becoming a living wage employer.”
'Affordability crisis'
Squamish Chamber of Commerce executive director Anne MacKenzie told The Squamish Chief that the chamber doesn't track which of its member businesses are living wage employers, but she was happy to see the stats on it.
"It is great to see numbers that are specific to Squamish for the first time," she said. "If you look at how they calculated the living wage, you'll see that the three largest expenses on the list are housing, food and child care. What this says to me is what we really have is an affordability crisis."
MacKenzie argued that putting the onus on small business owners to bridge that gap is coming at the problem from the wrong direction.
"Putting pressure on business owners who may already be working with a small profit margin, or on reduced hours because they can't find staff, is not a viable solution. It has the possibility of destabilizing the business, which means people lose their jobs, and everyone is right back where they started," she said.
"Our goal is to continue to support a growing and resilient business community, and I think we would be better off solving this particular problem by addressing the issues of affordable living. Our Business Advocacy Committee meets regularly to examine the challenges of the current business climate and really look at where we can have a tangible impact on raising awareness and seeking solutions."
‘Exceeded the living wage value’
The District of Squamish told The Squamish Chief that its employees are compensated in ways beyond the hourly wage offered.
“A living wage figure refers to a base salary dollar value; however, many employers, such as the District of Squamish, also compensate employees through employer-paid benefits, which helps to lower the cost-of-living expenses overall,” said the District’s spokesperson Rachel Boguski in an emailed statement.
She added that the wages paid to District employees include either a comprehensive benefits package or a percentage of salary in lieu of benefits on top of their base salary.
“At the last review of the District’s compensation package, all categories of the total compensation exceeded the living wage value for Squamish,” she said.
Boguski noted that the municipality does not have the jurisdiction to enforce the adoption of a living wage by local employers.
“We can provide this information so that Squamish employers understand the recommended living wage, so that those bringing their businesses to Squamish can account for the living wage, and so that talent moving to Squamish have a clearer picture of the wages they should likely seek in order to be able to live and work locally.”
What the Sea to Sky MLA candidates say
Jen Ford, NDP
Asked what she would do to make life more affordable in the Sea to Sky, Jen Ford, who is running for the BC NDP to become the West Vancouver-Sea to Sky member of the Legislature, said her party wants to tackle the root causes of the current cost of living crisis.
“Times are tough, and people and businesses are facing global challenges like inflation. That's why the BC NDP has taken action to tackle the root causes of the cost of living crisis and put money in your pocket: cutting the cost of child care in half, eliminating MSP premiums, supporting skills training so people can get good jobs, lowering ICBC rates by $500 per year, boosting the BC Family Benefit and helping with prescription medications,” she said, in an emailed statement.
“The [living wage] report shows that many people in Squamish are finding themselves leaving the region due to a high cost of housing. Recent changes in housing legislation is one way to address this: implementing a nation-leading set of reforms that is taking on speculators and brings in tough new restrictions on short-term rentals. Our actions are coming into effect now and will lead to the creation of more townhouses, duplexes and homes near transit, building 300,000 homes throughout B.C. that middle-class people can afford.”
Ford added that she knows that there is more to do.
In terms of how her party supports small businesses so they can offer a living wage, Ford pointed to B.C.’s positive standing.
“There is much more to do in this area, but we are an economic leader in Canada, with the highest wages in the country. We also have the highest minimum wage of all the provinces in the country,” she said.
She added that the report also shows that 70% of employers in Squamish struggle to attract and retain workers; Ford said the NDP has acted to try and make things easier so that these businesses can make ends meet.
She listed: making 90% of businesses fully exempt from the employer’s health tax; providing low electricity rates and delivering savings to small and medium businesses; keeping the small business tax 25% lower than when the BC United Party were in government; adding more skills training and more available, lower cost child care.
Jeremy Valeriote, BC Green Party
Jeremy Valeriote, the BC Green Party candidate for West Vancouver-Sea to Sky, told The Squamish Chief he supports the Squamish living wage.
“As BC Green MLA, I would push for measures to bring down the costs of housing, child care, transportation and food, while acknowledging that rising unaffordability is a symptom of problems that have been ignored for too long,” he said.
“Addressing the causes means fixing 40 years of misguided housing policy and building non-market housing at scale; providing choices in how we get around, so not everyone has to drive (or be driven); and seriously addressing climate change, which is making it harder to farm in B.C., making produce more expensive and undermining our food security.”
Valeriote said on transit, the Greens are calling for the expansion of both Squamish’s local public transit system and the “long-overdue” implementation of regional transit from Pemberton to Vancouver.
“I’ve campaigned on the issue for four years, alongside all the local governments and First Nations in our riding. Unfortunately, neither the NDP nor the [BC United Party] before them have been prepared to make the needed investment. Viable transit services are essential for families struggling to pay for multiple cars, and needing affordable options,” he said.
For renters, he noted that the party has called for the BC Rental Assistance income threshold to be raised from $40,000 to $70,000, as well as expanding eligibility for seniors to the Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters program.
“We are also the only party proposing vacancy control, which would link rent hikes to the property rather than the tenant, meaning the 'recent moving penalty' would be removed, and the incentive for landlords to evict to raise rents is eliminated,” he said.
Valeriote said the link between climate change and the economy means we “invest now in the new Green economy—as many other countries are doing—and help make life more affordable in the future. Otherwise, the recent inflationary crisis will seem like a walk in the park,” he said.
Valeriote also took aim at the BC NDP’s child-care initiatives, saying they “proved great at announcements, and terrible at implementation.”
“There aren't enough $10/day spaces or staff to run the centres, and some who were previously offering it have stopped due to the bureaucracy. We could do a whole lot better by prioritizing partnerships with public schools, community non-profits, and First Nations,” he said.
Asked about how the party would help small businesses in town so they could afford to pay a living wage, Valeriote said the B.C. government should “support local entrepreneurs instead of multinational corporations who lobby for big subsidies and offshore profits without delivering on the long-term, sustainable jobs they promise.”
Yuri Fulmer, BC Conservative Party
Asked about this issue, the most recent candidate to enter the election race, Yuri Fulmer of the Conservative Party of BC, said that one of his favourite quotes is, “What gets measured gets done.”
"A living wage means we have a measurement now. We can work with this. We need to look those numbers right in the face and figure out how everyone who lives here makes at least that amount and close the gap as fast as we can," he said.
In his emailed statement, Fulmer said he works with over 2,000 employees, all over B.C. and hears the same story from every community.
"British Columbia is the most expensive place to live in the world," he said, adding that the British Columbia Business Council reports that 36% of British Columbians are seriously considering leaving the province, and half of young people expect to raise their own families elsewhere.
"This is what an actual crisis looks like. To me, it’s about prosperity for everyone. The solution is not about minor measures; it’s about creating well-paying jobs for hard-workingBritish Columbians. A Conservative government will support small businesses in creating good jobs that benefit communities and the environment. When we help small businesses—which are the backbone of the British Columbian economy—the economy grows, and we create sustainable, healthy communities," he said.
Fulmer said that the minimum wage was designed to be a temporary solution.
"It was created to protect the most vulnerable workers, those new to the workforce and new Canadians. It wasn’t meant to be the wage for a large number of full-time workers. But because small businesses are not thriving, the minimum wage has become just that. That’s wrong," he said.
"People in Squamish and Whistler are standing in line at the food bank after working their
full-time jobs," he added. "That’s not OK. This week, a small business owner in the Sea to Sky corridor told me about how members of her staff share a two-bedroom, one-bathroom condo, with a stove that doesn’t work, with 13 people. This is what’s been allowed to happen under the NDP. This is not the British Columbia I want my kids to grow up in."
B.C.'s next provincial general election is scheduled for Oct. 19, 2024.
