Minimum wage hike worries small business owners

For entrepreneur SaharaNoor, the last four months have been difficult since she opened herhalalrestaurant, AlQudus,in Edmonton.

Road construction out front, an economic downturn and nowanother blow as staff wages are scheduled to rise $1an hour thanks to the minimum wage hike scheduled for Alberta on Thursday.

"Ifeel very worried," she said as she friedup seasoned goat meat in the kitchen.

The 10 per centhike to $11.20 an hour isthe first step in the province's plan to raise the minimum wage to $15 by 2018, one of the highest in the country.

Edmonton Chamber of Commerce president JanetRiopelsaidmany business owners are worried about the impact.

"We really want to slow it down," she said. "We really want to understand what these impacts could be."

Riopelsuggests the hikewill be detrimental tothe very people it's supposed to help.

"(Owners will) have to start either scaling back hours or they're going to have to lay off individuals. We're hearing that they will have to scale back benefits that they offer to their employees."

Noorsaid shehopesto increase wages once she can afford to, but for nowwillcutstaff hours for her four employees so her restaurant can survive.

Premier Rachel Notley defended her government's decision to increase minimum wage.

"I'm of the view, and Ithink there'ssome fairly strong evidence to support this view, thatputtingadditional monies into the pocketsof the lowest income earners actually serves togenerateeconomic activity."

The province also said it's taking a measured approach as requested by chambers of commerce across the province and will monitor the impact.

Thursday'sminimum wage hike willaffectabout 115,400 people.