CANMORE – A new report on living wages shows Canmore to be the most expensive among participating communities in Alberta.
The Alberta Living Wage Network (ALWN) annual living wage numbers list a living wage in Canmore to be $32.75 an hour. The next closest to Canmore was Fort McMurray at $22.50 an hour, Calgary and St. Albert at $22.40 and Cochrane at $22.35.
But while the eye-popping number is likely not a surprise to anyone living in Canmore, Town staff have been working in the community to find ways for businesses and organizations to lessen the financial impact on employees.
“It’s not just about that hourly wage. It’s really understanding what else you can do to make your community resilient and liveable,” said Lisa Brown, the Town’s manager of community social development.
Brown said she has worked with human resources and the economic development departments to find ways the living wage network can help businesses.
Town staff have also discussed having something people can access on the Town's website to show the impact certain taxable and non-taxable benefits can have in impacting salaries and the living wage.
“It’s a shared responsibility,” said Coun. Tanya Foubert. “I think a lot of people look to us to carry the load and I think that you look at the impact vital homes make and we’re doing our part, but it’s a shared responsibility.”
Brown said the ALWN would work with employers and organizations to show potential ways to help understand how taxable and non-taxable benefits assist as opposed to only increasing salaries.
Among the most pivotal programs has been Canmore Community Housing’s vital homes program, which for those who live in affordable housing can see the living wage number brought down by a third.
Brown said that investment has made an impact on residents as well as free public transit and the federal-provincial childcare agreement.
“When I look at community programs, one of the things I’m most proud of in Canmore is that community really does come together to keep Canmore a liveable community,” Brown said.
Housing – or the lack of – has been one of the greatest deterrents in bringing people to the community and keeping them in Canmore. In recent years, the cost of housing has soared as supply has been unable to meet demand.
According to the Job Resource Centre’s fall labour market review, the average rental rate for a one-bedroom in Canmore is $1,824 – an increase from $1,587 in the spring. It jumps to $2,733 for a two-bedroom which was $2,285 in the spring and $3,754 for a three-bedroom, while the average price with a roommate is $937 and a studio/bachelor is $1,200.
The same review lists the average wage for job advertisements placed with the Job Resource Centre between $16.95 and $19.35 for various food and beverage jobs, $23.01 for office and administration work and $19.95 for travel and tourism-related jobs.
Mayor Sean Krausert said of the four pillars – housing, food, transit and childcare – only transportation is typically handled by the municipality.
“Everything else is not typically in our wheelhouse,” he said. “That does mean we need other levels of government or businesses or not-for-profits working together to provide those things that will have that impact.”
The 2021 wage calculations were based on the Canadian Living Wage Framework. Following last year’s release, ALWN adjusted its methodology to have a weighted average of a two-parent household with two children, a lone parent with one child and a person living on their own.
The weighted average is what an employer would have to pay its workers to receive ALWN certification.
However, a staff report showed a two-parent household with two kids would need a salary of $36.15 an hour, while a single parent with one child is $47.15 an hour and an individual on their own is $29 an hour.
The report highlighted how the basic household expenses in Canmore are 43 per cent more expensive than Edmonton, which serves as the baseline municipality for Alberta. Housing in Canmore is 141 per cent more expensive than the province’s baseline.
For a two-parent household with two children, the annual cost of food in Canmore is $17,200 compared to the average of $15,700. For childcare, the annual cost in Canmore is $18,000, while the average is $14,700.
Calculations come from Alberta Health Services’, Statistics Canada, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation and local municipal information to collect data on expenses such as food, childcare, healthcare, transportation and shelter are used.
The living wage is an hourly wage a person needs to cover their basic expenses and live in the community. The living wage report acts as an indicator as opposed to the direction for the necessary pay needed to live in the community.
The report, however, showed how living costs can be lowered through programs such as Canmore Community Housing’s vital homes program, community-based food programs, free public transit and the provincial-federal childcare agreement.
But those programs can only be effective for what’s available at the moment in time, which is never a given.
“Through the living wage program, we see that affordability cannot only be increased by increasing wages. It can also be increased by lowering expenses,” the report notes. “Through community programs, government income supports, and employer benefit programs, the living wage program highlights how we can decrease community expense and increase affordability.”
The report added how having a liveable community is a “shared responsibility of the community, businesses and all levels of government.”
The wages were calculated by the ALWN, with a methodology that has the basic needs for a person living on modest expenses after taxes and government benefits are attributed.
The study uses population statistics and community expenses. It uses a standard methodology across the province. It is used to better understand the affordability of a community and the impact social-related programs can have.
Canmore had the dubious distinction of being top of the list last year, with a household of two adults and two children needing to earn $37.40 in a 35-hour week to make a living wage.
The 2020 figures for Canmore were $30.97 and were $23.40 an hour in 2015.
However, there had been several calculation changes through the years.
Canmore also had the distinction of having the greatest income inequality in the country in both the 2016 and 2021 Statistics Canada census data.
Known as the Gini index – or Gini coefficient – is a metric that measures income inequality and shows value between 0 and 1 with a larger value meaning more income inequality.
Canmore had a score of 0.35 – down from 0.422 in 2016 – but still ranked as the largest income inequality in Canada.
Canmore council’s strategic plan identifies affordability as one of the key issues in the community.
The Town has already called on the province and federal governments in providing possible land for development, policy changes and funding to help increase affordable housing in Canmore.
The 2022 Town budget had funding go to increasing service for free public transit and a policy planning position was established to focus on the downtown area redevelopment plan and Palliser area structure plan, which would focus on adding significant amounts of affordable housing to the municipal inventory.
“It certainly keeps us focused and motivated on those things that we can do,” Krausert said.
Living wages based on weighted average of two-parent household with two children, single parent with child and an individual:
- Canmore: $32.75
- Greater Toronto Area: $23.15
- St. Albert: $22.40
- Calgary: $22.40
- Cochrane: $22.35
- Edmonton: $21.40
- Grande Prairie: $19.65
- Red Deer: $19.65
- Ottawa: $19.60
- Hamilton: $19.05
- London: $18.05
Estimated annual cost of food in Canmore
- Two-parent, two-child household: $17,209
- Single parent, one child household: $8,809
- Single individual: $5,371
