Saskatchewan will be keeping an eye on the effects of other provinces increasing their minimum wage.

Ontario recently announced they’ll be raising minimum wage to $15 per hour in the new year.

Labour Relations Minister Don Morgan says they will be monitoring other jurisdictions before making changes. “Over the years we’ve done things with our taxes to ensure that we got some of the most affordable places, we got lowest utility bundle in Canada, things on the threshold before you start paying any taxes at all when our government has taken 111,900 people off the tax rolls and right now we have a huge labour shortage in the province.”

With a province like Ontario increasing their minimum wage, Morgan says that is something they will be monitoring along with other provinces and taking into consideration in the future. “New Brunswick is lower than where we are and looking where we are. Ours is focused and adjusted annually it’s midway between consumer pricing increase and the average hourly wage.”

Opposition Critic for Economy Alena Young says that Saskatchewan should be raising the minimum wage closer to Ontario’s level of $15. “We’ve been pretty consistent in our calls for a $15 dollar minimum wage but as we all know prices are going up, inflation is increasing. I know I filled up my car, it cost about $85 when it use to cost $60.”

Saskatchewan’s minimum wage was recently increased to $11.81.