[Editor's note: This is the first of a number of profiles of municipal candidates running on hot-button issues around the province, a series published on The Tyee between now and election day, November 19.]

When Premier Christy Clark announced an incremental increase of the province's minimum wage to $10.25 this spring, the general consensus in the province was it was long overdue. Too long, for many anti-poverty activists who say the hourly wage isn't enough to live on, particularly in the expensive urban areas of Metro Vancouver.

Several B.C. municipalities have taken note of this wage shortage, and as part of the municipal election lead-up, many candidates are floating the idea of introducing a living wage -- a pay system that calculates the cost of living in a region and determines how much you need to earn in order to live there.

But the system has its critics, who argue the wages are too expensive, and that it only benefits the unions, not the employers or the taxpaying citizens.

Here at The Tyee, we decided to profile three cities in the Lower Mainland dealing with the living wage this election: two interested in introducing it in their region, and the one that started it all, New Westminster, where at least one candidate wants to roll these wages back.

What's in a living wage?

The living wage is an hourly wage based on the cost of living in a municipality. These costs include rent, clothing, food, healthcare, transportation, and other incidental expenses, but not debt payments, owning a home, retirement or education savings, or holiday travel. It's enough to live on, but not a cushy salary by any means.

A Living Wage for Families, a B.C.-based campaign to introduce a living wage in cities and local businesses in the province, has calculated the living wage for Metro Vancouver to be $18.81 an hour for a family with two working parents. Michael McCarthy Flynn, campaign organizer, says that doesn't mean the hourly wage needs to be $18.81, but a combination of salary and benefits should reach that number.

"(For example) if we had a childcare policy, like a lot of childcare advocates are asking for a $10 a day, it would reduce the living wage by about $4 or $5," he told The Tyee.

Critics say a living wage for the entire Metro region makes no sense, as the cost of living in Surrey is much different from that of Maple Ridge. But McCarthy Flynn says because the region has such a fluid workforce -- 20 to 30 per cent of the population lives in a different city than they work in -- he says one wage is the only way to go.

"If we did it for just Vancouver, I would guarantee that it would be higher than $18.81," he says.

People should be able to live in dignity: Whalen

De Whalen has been advocating for a living wage, as well as other anti-poverty initiatives, in Richmond as a member of several committees, since 2007. She's taking a different tactic now by throwing her hat into the political ring this election to run for city council with a living wage agenda.

"Richmond has one of the highest costs of living in all of Canada. The housing costs are very high; we have the second highest child poverty level in all of Canada," says Whalen, adding that one-in-five Richmond residents live below the poverty line.

"If the city acted as a good corporate citizen, as a good employer and brought the living wage in for their contracted services, that would be a good signal for other large employers like (the Vancouver International Airport) and Richmond Hospital to do the same."

She's already approached three current councillors, who she says have supported the move. The public has been harder to convince.