Rent costs are the biggest driver of rising living wages on Prince Edward Island, according to report

Advocacy groups say many people on Prince Edward Island do not earn a living wage, leaving islanders facing difficult decisions about rent and food.

A new report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives says the living wage is currently $22.76 and many Islanders struggle to earn that hourly wage. In 2020, the Centre calculated the living wage to be $19.30.

A living wage is the minimum income a worker needs to meet his or her basic needs.

Housing construction is the main reason for the increase in numbers, according to the group. According to the report, apartment rents on the island have increased by an average of 17 percent over the past four years.

“This is an increase that is unsustainable for many people,” said Cory Pater of the organization PEI Fight for Affordable Housing.

“For people earning minimum wage, this is a huge burden… We constantly hear of people having to limit or forgo meals altogether just to have enough money in their bank account to pay the rent.”

Some people pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent, but it should really only be 25 percent, says Pater. He has heard of tenants paying 50 percent of their income to keep a roof over their heads.

“People’s heating bills, which are basic services, are being cut. People should not have to sacrifice their basic needs for another basic need, in this case shelter,” he said.

Pater believes the Prince Edward Island government should buy up multi-family homes already for sale and then convert them into provincial apartments where tenants can pay a percentage of rent based on their income.

Guaranteeing a basic income is child’s play

Hannah Bell, a former Green Party MP who served on a select committee on poverty, said she had seen rents rise by 50 percent for some people.

“We don’t monitor all rent increases, they’re not all reported,” Bell said.

“This shows us that the law is not being followed or applied and that the tenants are the ones who suffer.”

Bell said rent control must be tightened and enforced to prevent illegal increases, and barriers to entry to certain social programs must be raised.

The special committee on poverty, of which she was a member, made recommendations to the government which included, among other things, an increase in the minimum wage and the introduction of a guaranteed basic income.

“We are well past the point where we need another pilot (for a basic income). There are literally hundreds of them around the world, including in Canada,” Bell said.

“We don’t need to check whether giving more money to the poor will help. That’s child’s play. What we need to do is be brave and take the appropriate steps.”

Mary Boyd, a coordinator at the MacKillop Centre for Social Justice on Prince Edward Island, believes in a basic job guarantee – a federal, locally managed employment program that provides basic jobs with wages and benefits.

“The problem is that we have a business cycle and we go from a boom to a recession, a really bad depression, a recovery and so on,” Boyd said.

“With a job guarantee, everything is reciprocal. You get the wages you deserve. It benefits you, it benefits your community, but it also creates wealth that benefits the community.”

Boyd, Pater and Bell all agree that Prince Edward Island’s minimum wage needs to be increased, although some business owners often challenge such increases.

“If you can’t afford to pay your workers a living wage, then you can’t afford to stay in business,” Bell said.

The province is increasing the minimum wage from $15.40 to $16 an hour in October. The report from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives suggests that all provincial governments raise their minimum wage to $20 an hour as soon as possible.

CBC News reached out to officials at the Ministry of Labour and Training for an interview, but no one was available prior to publication.