Minimum Wage Hike: Not Enough to Beat Poverty

0:00It's April 30th. You're listening to Canada News today, AI-powered local news. I'm Corey with the story. Quebec's minimum wage jumps to $16.60 an hour starting Friday, up from $16.10 with tip workers, getting $13.30. A new study drops a reality check, saying this bump won't pull low-wage folks out of poverty at all. Full-time minimum wage earners, after taxes and benefits, pocket about $27,647 a year. That's just two-thirds of the $41,585 a single person needs to scrape by a Montreal. Housing eats up the most cash, around $18,400 yearly for one person there. The study's author, Evelyn Couturier, points out we need higher wages plus real government help. But without fixing skyrocketing living costs, it's only half to fix. This holds true across seven Quebec City studies, even cheaper spots like Trial Reveiers,

1:00where a single needs $33,200. $49 to avoid poverty, only 4.8% of workers earn minimum wage anyway. Quebec ranks 5th highest in Canada, come 2026 at $18.25 an hour, behind British Columbia's top spot. To be poverty, we got to tackle housing, transit, and groceries head on for good.