Alberta’s minimum wage is on the rise.
    On Monday, June 29, the Alberta NDP government announced that minimum wage would increase one dollar.
    The increase, from $10.20 per hour to $11.20 per hour will take effect on October 1. The NDP government also announced that liquor server minimum wage would increase from $9.20 to $10.70 and that the government will eliminate the differential rate altogether in 2016.
    “Alberta’s minimum wage is currently the lowest in the country, yet we have one of the highest costs of living,” Premier Rachel Notley said in a press release from Monday. “We promised Albertans we would raise minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2018, and we will stick to that promise. We’re taking a significant step towards our goal for 2015 and will continue this path in future years.”
    The Drumheller and District Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Heather Bitz said the changes have been on the radar at the Chamber.
    “We are certainly concerned about the impact on the business community, especially for small businesses, which account for a majority of business in Alberta,” she told inSide Drumheller.  
    “We expect to see the business community respond to the minimum wage increase in a variety of ways, such as increased costs to goods and services, reductions in hours of operation, decreases in staff levels, reductions in employee benefits or at worst, business closures. Overall the minimum wage increase will apply increased pressure across all wage levels,” she said.
    Once the change comes into effect, Alberta will go from 10th to the third highest in minimum wages in Canada.
    The Northwest Territories is the highest at $12.50 per hour with Ontario being second that will be at $11.25 per hour in October.

    The Salvation Army welcomes new officers to Drumheller.
    Jennifer and Shane Hillier, along with their two-year-old daughter, arrived late last week from Vancouver and are “excited” to be in a small town.
    The couple is originally from a small town in Newfoundland.
    Hillier said she has spent the past eight years in Vancouver as part of The Salvation Army. She mentioned her husband has been with The Salvation Army for quite sometime as well and they will both be taking positions within the church.
    She has now become the Corps Officer for the Drumheller branch of the church and her husband is the Community Ministries Director.
    “The Salvation Army uses an appointment system, so they actually appoint people to different places, so they have appointed us here,” she said continuing by saying, “We were really wanting to come to a small town.”
    “Vancouver has been really great and it is beautiful, but we are from a small town and there is a sense of community that I don’t think you get living in the big city so we have been looking forward to coming to a small town and being part of a community and being among the people,” she told inSide Drumheller.