Here, apparently, is what it costs to live in B.C.

THE#BCBIZDAILY
Plus, oily warnings and Jumbo problems

Reality check
The 2015 living wage for Metro Vancouver is $20.68 an hour (or $37,638 a year for full-time employment) compared to $20.10 last year, according to a report released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. The 2.9 per cent increase is more than double Vancouver’s inflation rate of 1.1 per cent. B.C.’s minimum wage is $10.25 an hour, which will increase to $10.45 in September and annually after that based on the B.C. consumer price index. The living wage is the hourly rate at which a household can meet its basic needs once government transfers have been added to the family’s income and deductions have been subtracted. The 2015 living wage for other B.C. communities is $20.05 in Greater Victoria, $17.27 in the Fraser Valley, $20.61 in Kitimat and $17.66 in Qualicum. You can check the living wage for other B.C. communities here.

Spilling about oil
Coast Guard response to the recent oil spill in English Bay may have been underwhelming, but there’s plenty of public interest. A panel of U.S. oil-spill experts comes to Vancouver Wednesday to discuss “Toxic Oil Spill in English Bay: The Truth About Oil Recovery & Long-Term Effects on the Ecosystems.” Scientists Riki Ott and Anita Burke, both with first-hand experience of oil spills including Exxon Valdez, and activist Michelle MI Wolverine Blondsmith, who lives near Enbridge’s Kalamazoo spill, will consider lessons from past spills, health effects, mitigation strategies and a spill response plan for the Salish Sea. ICBC Concourse, SFU’s Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue, 580 W. Hastings St., 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.

Jumbo resort snowed under?
Unlike other B.C. ski hills, the proposed Jumbo Glacier resort has snow all year round. Jumbo’s (latest) problem is too much in the wrong place. An April 24 letter from B.C.’s Environmental Assessment Office has halted work on the resort’s day lodge and service building because they are in an avalanche hazard area. To keep its environmental certificate, the company was required to have completed “substantial construction” by October 12, 2014.