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All but one Regina city councillor voted against a living wage policy on Wednesday, siding with an administration report that said it would be too expensive.

There were four options in the report. Only one would make the city a so-called living wage employer. It would require city employees to be paid at least $16.95 per hour. The same would apply to workers employed by service partners and contractors who do work on city premises.

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That was a non-starter for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. Its vice president, Marilyn Braun-Pollon, warned the policy’s estimated minimum price tag of $1.1 million would drive up property taxes and hurt employers.

“At a time when administration is going into budget deliberation and continues to look for internal efficiencies and cost savings, we believe the last thing the city should do at this time is adopting a costly living wage policy,” she said.