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However, if we take the premier at her word, then it raises a number of obvious questions.

For example, if a minimum wage of $15 an hour entails no negative effects whatsoever, why not go higher? If $15 an hour will help “low income families make ends meet” (the talking point advanced by both Labour Minister Christina Gray last week and Calgary NDP MLA Jamie Kleinsteuber), then wouldn’t $18 or $20 an hour “help” even more?

It’s unclear if the premier believes that an upper point exists to the exclusively positive benefits she sees with a higher minimum wage. Is $15 an hour at the peak of some hitherto undiscovered curve, where only benefits are delivered before suddenly plunging into negative effects?

Does Notley concede that minimum wage increases are harmful at a certain point? How close to that point are we, in her view? If she believes harm is at least theoretically possible, what does she believe those specific harms to be?

It’s at least possible that the impacts of this change will be minimal. However, it’s also quite probable that at least some job losses will occur, which means Notley’s declaration may come back to haunt her.

Morley Gunderson is an internationally recognized expert on issues of youth employment. He is a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the CIBC chair of youth employment at the University of Toronto, and someone whose expertise should not be ignored.

In two major reviews of the evidence, in 2005 and again in 2014, Gunderson found that for every 10 per cent increase in the minimum wage, employment is reduced for teens by about three to six per cent. There also tend to be negative employment effects for more disadvantaged workers who find themselves stuck in minimum wage jobs.