November 18, 2025
RED FM News Desk
Alberta’s minimum wage freeze is poised to continue after the United Conservative Party (UCP) government voted down a private member’s bill proposing gradual increases.
Bill 201, introduced by Calgary-Mountain View MLA Kathleen Ganley, called for the minimum wage to rise by $1 each year for the next three years. It also sought to eliminate the $13-per-hour youth wage differential and ensure service workers could keep their tips.
Ganley condemned the decision, arguing the government is failing to address the affordability pressures facing Alberta workers.
“The UCP is abandoning Albertans who are working harder than ever yet falling further behind,” she said. “While costs continue to balloon, the minimum wage hasn’t gone up for seven years.”
Alberta’s minimum wage remains at $15 an hour — now the lowest in Canada. Just last month, Saskatchewan, Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island all increased their minimum wages, leaving Alberta at the bottom of the national list. In 2018, when Alberta last made an adjustment, it had the highest minimum wage in the country.
The NDP argued Bill 201 would have offered meaningful support to workers struggling to keep up with rising living costs.
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