Province now tied for lowest minimum wage with Saskatchewan

By Medicine Hat News on October 1, 2024.

Minimum wage will rise to $15 per hour today in Saskatchewan, a point which now puts Alberta in a tie for the lowest in the country.

The increase in Saskatchewan was announced earlier this year and adds $1 per hour to the lowest mandated wage that was last raised to $14 in late 2023.

Alberta’s minimum was hasn’t changes since October 2018, and is now lower than eight other provinces, including Manitoba ($15.30), British Columbia ($16.75), Ontario ($16.55) and Quebec ($15.25).

The minimum wage in federally regulated workplaces, like banks, is $17.30.

Patch power deal

A mid-stream petroleum company says it has agreements to use natural gas that would have been flared to produce electricity that will be sold to SaskPower.

Calgary-based Steel Reef announced Monday that it will add gas-turbine generators at five of its processing plants in Saskatchewan at a cost of $265 million. Power produced is subject to “multiple long-term” power purchase Agreements (PPAs) with the Crown power company.

Total production capacity will be 100 megawatts.

Steel Reef president Scott Southward said his company “will now invest in electricity generating turbines powered by recovered flare gas. This process reduces emissions and provides electricity from a previously unavailable source.”

SaskEnergy officials called the deal “innovative” and a commitment to diverse energy sources.

Four of the five Steel Reef sites are in the province’s southeast and the other at Colville, near Kindersley.