Couple points

1. Will a minimum wage increase contribute to inflationary bump?

Quite simply, yes it will. More wages = more spending power = higher demand = higher prices. This is the basic logic that everyone understands and uses to refute the benefits of raising the minimum wage. The problem with this logic is it ignores the fact that this cycle that is supposedly "the problem" is the very definition of economic growth. Inflation is a required part of the debt based economy we live in. Without a constant increase of the money spent on goods and services (like what would naturally result from a wage hike) you have a RECESSION.

The only thing to be worried about is Hyper Inflation. This happens when large geopolitical forces devalue a currency. Russia is experiencing this. Venezuela also. A group of people who have the LEAST spending power, getting an addition $5 per hour over the next 4 years, in ONE province will not, and can not cause a hyper inflation situation. It defies all logic to believe this could be remotely possible.

1. How much has the total wages increased over the entire population of Alberta over the passed 4 years? I'm gonna wager a guess that this amount is an order of magnitude higher than to total amount of extra dough that will find it's way into the poorest residents of Alberta pockets. Why haven't these increased wages and increased spending power already created the hyper inflation naysayers claim will happen with a minimum wage increase.

Bottom line is this. The people who need and benefit from the wage have little to no political clout. They have a very small voice and no economic leverage to make themselves heard. The people who lose from this increase (the business owners who sign the cheques) have a large amount of political clout and a tremendous amount of economic leverage to make their views heard. WHY people are saying something radically influences WHAT is being said. Truth rarely factors into the equation.