The Alberta government tabled a report from an expert panel it appointed to examine the effects of a $15 minimum wage and a possible lower wage for tipped servers.
The group, chaired by University of Alberta economist Joseph Marchand, was appointed in August 2019 by Jason Copping, who was Alberta’s labor minister at the time.
The panel submitted its report in February 2020, just before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the document was never made public.
“Our government has received and reviewed the work of the panel of experts on the minimum wage. Due to the economic effects of COVID, the changing labor market and inflation, much of the report is no longer relevant,” Roy Dallmann, press secretary to Labor Minister Kaycee. Madu told CBC News in an email.
Alberta Labor does not plan to release the report and the provincial government will maintain the $15 minimum wage, Dallmann said.
The panel, which cost the provincial government about $24,492, was a reaction to the former NDP government’s decision to raise the minimum wage in October 2019.
Groups representing restaurants and small businesses criticized the government at the time, suggesting it was moving too quickly and that the initiative would cost jobs.
The United Conservative Party promised in its 2019 campaign platform that it would form an expert panel on the minimum wage, if voted into power.
The group would have two tasks: study the potential effect of the wage increase on the labor market and determine whether food and liquor servers would make more money in tips if they were paid a lower hourly rate.
Alberta used to have a lower minimum wage for servers until the former NDP government removed it in 2016.
It is not known whether the expert panel report recommended restoring the lower wage rate.
The panel included Mark von Schellwitz, vice-president of Restaurants Canada, an organization that has advocated for a reduction in the minimum server wage.
Von Schellwitz told CBC News he could not say what the panel recommended because he is bound by a non-disclosure agreement.
He said, however, that lower wages allow restaurant owners to afford to give servers more hours, which allows employees the opportunity to earn more tips.
Opposition NDP Leader Rachel Notley said the Alberta government must make the panel’s report publicly available.
“Albertans have a right to see the report. They paid for it,” he said, adding that the recommendations could provide insight into what a UCP government may try to implement if the party wins the provincial election next year
The government instituted a $13 minimum wage for youth in June 2019 because it believed higher wages were reducing youth employment rates.
The lower rate had no effect on how many young people were employed, Notley said.