EDMONTON—Even at 16 years old, Connor Lang has plenty of expenses.

The Calgary teenager entered the working world at the age of 12, cleaning a carpet store once a week. He now works at a restaurant to pay for his car insurance and save money for university. One day, he hopes to be a neurosurgeon and perhaps study for a PhD — something his parents told him they may not be able to afford.

But the United Conservative government’s plan to roll back Alberta’s minimum wage to $13 an hour for students under the age of 18 is, to Lang, especially unfair.

“For me, I kind of find frustration in having a lower minimum wage than my peers, especially when we’re doing the same job,” Lang said.

On top of the minimum wage changes, Bill 2 — or the Open for Business Act — will also change the way overtime is banked for Alberta workers.

The plan announced Monday does make some provisions for students who work full-time during the school year. The rollback for students is only in effect for the first 28 hours a student works in a week while school’s in session. Every hour past those 28, a student must be paid the regular minimum wage of $15 per hour.

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However, while on breaks from school and during summer holidays, the $13 an hour rate is in place for all hours worked by a student, the proposed changes state.

“With Bill 2 and the youth minimum wage, we are restoring fairness and balance to the workplace and getting ‘Help Wanted’ signs back in the windows of Alberta businesses,” said Premier Jason Kenney in a news release about the proposed changes.

The bill was introduced into the legislature Monday afternoon, but still must be debated and voted on by the UCP’s 63-seat majority and the NDP’s 24-seat Opposition.

If passed, the changes will take effect June 26.

Moshe Lander, a Concordia University economist, said that the wage rollback won’t make much of a difference, but could have a small positive effect on hiring.

“The basic logic is to try and get more teenagers hired,” he said, adding, “Thirteen bucks an hour for a 13-year-old kid ... that’s good money.”

Under the previous NDP government in Alberta, the overall minimum wage was brought up from about $10 an hour to $15 an hour, and Lander said rolling it back down to $13 for youth workers wouldn’t amount to a significant change in the negative or positive.

“I get it, $15 down to $13 is a major hit, but it’s not like this is a decades-old policy. This is a policy that was barely in place and it’s being moved back to something that’s still nothing to sneeze at,” Lander said.

However, Lang said the $13 an hour youth minimum wage would require him to work a lot more, especially since he pays for his own car insurance. When he first started working at his restaurant job nearly two years ago, the minimum wage was below $15 an hour.

“Comparing how much money I make now versus how much I made then, I would have to pick up significantly more shifts to afford insurance … more necessary things like that,” Lang said.

There will also be changes to how overtime is banked for Alberta workers. Right now, if an employee banks overtime, each extra hour is counted as 1.5 hours, or time and a half. Under the new rules, overtime is banked as regular hours. However, regularly paid overtime is still paid out at time and a half.

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The Opposition NDP slammed the proposed changes in a news release put out Monday.

“Instead of creating jobs, Jason Kenney’s first priority is to cut overtime pay for working people,” Opposition leader Rachel Notley said.

“When Albertans bank their overtime hours to take some paid time off with their families, they shouldn’t end up with less money in their bank accounts.”

The NDP says the change to banked overtime amounts to a wage cut, putting Alberta out of step with the rest of Canada where employees have their overtime hours banked at 1.5 times their hourly wage.

Lander also said the new banked overtime rules won’t change the incentives for employers in a meaningful way. Putting people into overtime at the regular wage instead of time and a half could actually mean less hiring “when I could just continue to ride this horse into the ground at regular time,” Lander said of how employers could look at it.

Bill 2 also proposes a number of changes for holiday pay. Under the new rules, a worker must have worked at least 30 days in the 12 months prior to the general holiday to qualify for holiday pay for that day.

For calculating general holiday pay, the proposal says the province would bring in a regular/irregular workday distinction for holiday pay. At the moment, employees get holiday pay regardless of their work schedules or if the business is even open on the holiday. Under the new rules, employees who don’t normally work on the day that a holiday falls on wouldn’t get paid for that holiday — like Christmas on a Saturday if the employee doesn’t normally work weekends or isn’t scheduled to work Christmas. The employee has to normally work that day of the week, be scheduled to or actually work the day to get the holiday pay.

These changes would take effect Sept. 1.

Lastly, the new bill outlines changes to the Labour Relations Code.

It proposes bringing in a mandatory secret ballot for union certification votes, returning to a 90-day period for unions to provide evidence of worker support for certification, and setting up a program under Alberta Labour and Immigration that assists workers with information about union worker rights.

The bill also changes the rules around co-ordinating workplace complaints involving multiple entities like the Human Rights Commission and the Labour Relations Board.

Overall, Lander said the new Open for Business Act doesn’t live up to its name and won’t affect how businesses in Ontario that are considering a move to Alberta make up their minds — something Kenney has been pushing for with his recent visits to Toronto to lobby businesses.

“I don’t know that this makes a huge difference. I don’t know that if I’m operating in say Ottawa and looking to move to Calgary that I say, ‘Oh! Great news. We only have to pay teenagers $13 instead of $15,’” said Lander.

With files from Brennan Doherty

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