'I would barely be able to make rent': Worker lives with parents to make ends meet

On Cross Country Checkup's show on minimum wage and low-income workers, we discussed Alberta and Ontario's move to raise minimum wages dramatically to $15 over two years. Meanwhile, those living in other provinces have to make do on lower wages ranging from $9.45 to $13.

Chris Larson from Fredericton, N.B., called to share her experience of making ends meet earning $13 an hour, two dollars more than her province's minimum wage.

Larson spoke to Checkup guest host Andrew Nichols.

Andrew Nichols: Is raising minimum wage the best way to help lower income workers?

Chris Larson: Raising the minimum wage is definitely a step in the right direction, but I feel like the government has to do a little bit more. One of which would be lower property tax. If you look back to 1938, during the Depression, Roosevelt wanted to make the minimum wage a living wage and that meant people could actually live decently on the wages they were being given.

But the truth is $15 an hour may help some people in certain rural areas in Ontario, but in bigger cities like Ottawa and Toronto, it's not going to help much. It will help, but not as much as they need. If I were being paid $15 an hour on full-time hours living in Fredericton, it would be good for me. But I know that the rent in other places is a lot higher, so things like that need to be taken into account. The minimum wage being raised to $15 an hour now will definitely help. It's not going to help everybody, depending on where they live. It'll definitely take some stress off, but other things need to be done.

AN: Can I ask you how much money you make, and how that amount works for you?

CL: I'm currently being paid $13 an hour. Now I'm not being paid full time at the moment. Unfortunately, my work had to cut my hours. When I was being paid full time, I probably could have got a one bedroom to myself and I probably could have lived all right on my own. But now, I'm in a situation where I would want to bring my brother with me as a roommate. Unfortunately, we're both living at our parents' home. He has some issues that he needs to get sorted out before he'd be able to go into the workforce, so I would need to take him with me. If we were to live by ourselves at the current wage, I cannot afford to do that, even if I was still working full time.

AN: That's incredible that at $13 an hour with full-time employment you could live alone. That shows the difference of cost of living in Fredericton versus big cities, like Toronto.

CL: I was looking at two-bedroom places. There are some that go for as much as $800 dollars, and that would be with utilities included. But at $13 an hour, once you take other expenses into account, like we need to have our phones, and we need to have our bus passes. We wouldn't even have a car. We would be using the bus system here. All that combined and I would only just barely be able to make the rent. At $800 for two bedrooms, I would not be able to make it.

All comments have been edited and condensed. This online segment was prepared by Champagne Choquer.