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MLA Kate White and Community Services Minister John Streicker

MLAs who vetoed wage study earn $93,000-plus: NDP

The Yukon government will not be initiating an early review of the territorial minimum wage.

By Emily Blake on May 26, 2017

The Yukon government will not be initiating an early review of the territorial minimum wage.

On Wednesday, Liberal government and Yukon Party MLAs voted down a motion proposing the review. It had been tabled by Takhini-Kopper King MLA Kate White of the Yukon NDP.

It asked the government to trigger a review before B.C.’s minimum wage hike scheduled for September.

That increase will put the province’s minimum wage at $11.35 per hour, making the Yukon’s minimum hourly rate of $11.32 the sixth highest in Canada.

“Not only was it denied; it was destroyed,” White said of the motion in an interview with the Star this morning.

“I think the sad part for me was it put the Conservatives and the Liberals on the exact same page where the process is adequate and there’s no need for a review.”

She described the territory’s minimum wage as a “poverty wage”, and noted that legislators who rejected the motion earn a minimum annual salary of $93,000.

Currently in the Yukon, the minimum wage is adjusted annually on April 1 based on the consumer price index. In 2017, it rose by 25 cents, from $11.07 to $11.32.

“This approach mandates adjustments in a way that increases minimum wage for workers annually, but also creates clear expectations for businesses by reducing erratic fluctuations of the cost of doing business in the Yukon,” Community Services Minister John Streicker told the House.

“We believe the system is working well,” he added.

The Employment Standards Board, an independent body from the government, can also initiate a review of the minimum wage, or the minister can request one.

And a review is automatically triggered when the territory’s minimum wage drops to seventh place nationally.

Streicker said that before the government commits to a review, it needs to do research and analysis on employment, income, and social well-being in the Yukon.

But White said the review would have enabled the territory to remain competitive with neighbouring jurisdictions.

Nunavut currently has the highest minimum wage in Canada at $13 an hour; in the N.W.T., it is $12.50; and Alberta has committed to $15 by 2018. A $15 minimum wage was a key part of the NDP’s platform across Canada.

“Why would we wait until we’re behind? Why should we aspire to be mediocre?” White asked the House.

“We know that such poverty wages keep individuals and families in a cycle of poverty, so how is it acceptable to say, ‘Oh, well, we’ll wait until we fall further behind and we’ll wait to take a closer look once we’re in the seventh position?’”

As a result of the wage, she said, there are people in the Yukon working full-time who have housing insecurity.

They have cut basic needs like healthy food, heating and school supplies, and rely on their local food bank or soup kitchens.

White noted the Yukon Anti-Poverty Coalition’s calculated a living wage of $19 per hour for a family of four with two parents working full-time.

And in the absence of Yukon statistics, she pointed to Alberta data that show 67 per cent of people earning minimum wage are not teenagers, 60 per cent work full time, 36 per cent are post-secondary graduates, and nearly 40 per cent are parents.

But Streicker said he will not rely on provincial statistics. The department is working with the Yukon Bureau of Statistics to research how the Yukon’s minimum wage compares to other jurisdictions, he added.

He added that he knows of people in the Yukon who use the minimum wage as an entry-level rather than living wage.

“We are certainly interested in and affected by the trends and decisions by our partners in other jurisdictions – for example, Alberta,” Streicker said.

“However, we must take a measured approach to consider information, data research and criteria pertinent to the Yukon,” he said.

He also noted that the anti-poverty coalition’s research shows there are multiple methods to address poverty other than raising minimum wage.

These include affordable housing options, improved access and reduced costs of child care, lower transportation costs, and more opportunities for local suppliers through preferential procurement practices.

He said the government has committed to Housing First, working in consultation with other governments, and working on an early childhood strategy.

White challenges the government’s commitment to lower transportation costs. She notes that the current territorial budget contains no measure to reduce the cost of transit for low-income workers.

Streicker said the issue falls under the municipal government, but that officials will work in partnership to get infrastructure funding to deliver transit in a cost-effective manner.

“If Yukon’s working poor had a dollar for every time the minister says he will consult, work with or study something, they probably wouldn’t have to go to the food bank to put food on the table,” White responded.

In the legislature Wednesday, Yukon Party Leader Stacey Hassard also argued against the review.

He said a number of small businesses would not be able to handle increases in the wage beyond the consumer price index. It would mean a higher likelihood that employers would not be able to offer fringe benefits including sick time, bonuses, or vacation pay, Hassard added.

“Creating more burden on small business by having them pay out more to individuals can create larger problems in the long run than increasing individual paycheques a few dollars at a time,” said Hassard.

“Providing more opportunities for families to save and for people to excel in different areas can lead to a larger payoff for our community as a whole.”

But White said a greater minimum wage would actually benefit the local economy. She noted a large proportion of minimum wage earners across Canada work in large corporations.

She added that a number of small businesses in the Yukon pay well above the minimum wage, including a coffee shop she owned between 2006 and 2009.

“Lifting people out of poverty is not only the right thing to do, but it’s also the smart thing to do from an economics point of view, from a health perspective and from any way you look at it,” she said.

The motion was ultimately voted down by 16 members of the legislature.

White told the Star this morning she was disappointed with the debate and decision in the House.

“We don’t think it’s working the right way,” she said of the territory’s current system for reviewing minimum wage.

“If the review came back and said that was fine I’d be disappointed, but at least we would have had a review.”

Streicker was unavailble for comment before press time this afternoon due to his attendance at today’s Yukon Forum, a meeting between cabinet ministers and First Nations leaders.

Comments (40)

Up 0 Down 0

Brian on Jun 2, 2017 at 8:37 am

@incredulous
I am a small employer, I specialize in Remote Location Camp operations, I am also a EMR medic, as well as I Perform General Contracting and Plumb houses. But wait, I also have a Trapline that my wife, daughter and I work in the winter for 4 months or so.
I have always paid my employees better then Fair Wage schedule because I know what it's like to work for a crap employer that only values what he can shave off your back.
My failure in operating a successful business is that I value family time more then work, and we get our family time at the Trapline where we teach our daughter, who at 3 has contributed by harvesting berries and fish. Learning life skills that will help her be a strong confident woman as she grows up.
I also have Placer claims, and do whatever bush work I can.
When my daughter was born, I worked for $20 hr because I had to be home to support my wife in our off grid lifestyle. Once Tasin was born, 2 weeks later I went back to making real money in the bush to financially support my new family. We are a single income household, so I can say it like it is.
Yeah, I may be arrogant, but when you build something from nothing with no help from anyone, inside 4 years, I guess it's a real fine line between pride and arrogance.

Up 0 Down 1

ralpH on Jun 1, 2017 at 9:10 pm

@north-of-60 really what a assine thing to say!! So many are struggling to make ends meet. Some may have habits but if basic income supplement becomes a reality it needs to have some parameters. Minimum wage increases at the whim of governments just isn't working.

Up 1 Down 0

Anonymous on Jun 1, 2017 at 8:58 pm

Just a little side note. School supplies this year was not an issue since the conservatives gave every child the amount they needed to start the school year. Parents did not have to pay a cent for supplies, just field trip costs. Just satin'.

Up 6 Down 5

Politico on Jun 1, 2017 at 1:47 pm

@ north_of_60 So you have proof that everyone with a low income is spending their money on cigs, booze and drugs? Really!

Up 8 Down 2

How much longer? on Jun 1, 2017 at 12:44 pm

Do some math for perspective. Given that over 40% of Yukoners work direct for government or other public-funds supported enterprises, I doubt more than 1,000 residents make less than $15/hour, at most. And then let's say the average in that pool is $13/hour.

To raise that to $15 would cost business $2 x 40 hours x 50 weeks x 1000 workers = a total grand sum of $4 million. Think about that in context of the size of all our government budgets and what they are spending on anti-poverty programs.

Meanwhile, the Yukon Government alone rakes in $14.5 million in corporation tax, a number that is doubled by federal business taxes, further enlarged by taxes on sole proprietors and partnerships that declare on personal rates, and added to again by payroll taxes for EI and CPP.

The fact is that we tax business, our job and wealth creators, flip that up to Ottawa and Whitehorse, churn it around in a messy and inefficient bureaucracy, lose a massive amount in the process and then spit what's left back out at the bottom in an endless morass of programs that low incomers must then try to find and access.

The primary beneficiary is this industry of 'middle-men/women' administrators. Instead, drop the business taxes to offset the rise in wages and the working poor and our whole economy see the benefit directly instead of funding this totally unproductive morass of run-around administration.

Up 10 Down 5

north_of_60 on May 31, 2017 at 9:20 pm

@ralpH
Giving people more money to spend on booze, smokes, lotto, drugs, junk-food, bling, and cell phones is not going to solve poverty. Reducing the cost of basic services like public transportation, real food, rent, and taxes for people with low incomes will address the problems causing poverty.

Up 5 Down 10

ralpH on May 31, 2017 at 1:19 pm

@Jason spot on. I am not convinced that minimum wage is the be all solution. With automation and more convenient services we need to seriously look at The Guaranteed supplement income option. Only way to put people on parity and out of poverty.

Up 11 Down 5

Jason on May 31, 2017 at 12:43 pm

I'd like to add to this as well the dampening effect of inflation on real income. For example, using the bank of Canada's inflation calculator, earning 50,000 in 2017 (about 28/hr based on 35hr work week) is the same as earning under 30k in 1990. Earning 100k in 2017 is the same as earning just over 50k in 1990. I believe that some people need to remember that it's not the 80s or 90s anymore where making 100k meant you were driving a Porsche; it's more like a Camry in 2017.

Up 8 Down 4

Incredulous on May 31, 2017 at 11:17 am

@Brian...

Just out of curiosity, what do you do for a living? And as far as pay being based on your worth as an employee... Why then, not start someone out at thirty bucks an hour instead of giving them piddling raises each year? In my experience, unless you are vocal and forceful regarding your worth, most employers will pay as little as they can get away with and still keep their employees reasonably happy.

Up 20 Down 0

Nile on May 30, 2017 at 6:48 pm

Minimum wage should always be more than welfare. That should be the incentive to work.

Up 11 Down 4

Mark on May 30, 2017 at 5:28 pm

I agree with Brian, minimum wage is for unskilled workers entering the workforce. With all the programs offered by government services, I wonder why skilled adults even take these jobs. Upgrading is dealt with by ones motivation level. Minimum wage was never intended to be a "living wage", it is intended as an entry point.

Up 7 Down 2

How much longer? on May 30, 2017 at 2:44 pm

Rather delicious to read this same day as their Ontario Liberal colleagues announce a $15/hour minimum wage.

One single wage number is way too blunt a tool. Other jurisdictions have had success by raising the minimum but retaining lower age-based minimums and lower minimums in approved on-job training schemes & apprenticeships. This way employers get a direct break for taking on the young, the unskilled and the inexperienced who can find it very hard to get a start. This benefits us all.

Super low wages are frequently just being topped up by the welfare system and all manner of these other government run and funded anti-poverty programs in our Canadian safety net. This is just another form of inefficient corporate welfare. Those of us with good incomes need to adjust to pay the true higher prices of our consumption that are required to give a 40-hour week worker a reasonable living.

Up 8 Down 4

ProScience Greenie on May 30, 2017 at 12:58 pm

Not everyone has the capability or capacity to upgrade sufficiently to get out of the minimum-wage career level Brian. Just the way it is. Kind of a bell curve thing. They are still our friends, neighbors and family.

Cleaning up the waste and inefficiency in government and government dependent businesses/NGOs with potential reduction in taxes to individuals and businesses may be one way of balancing a much needed higher minimum (read living) wage.

And maybe if we didn't have such crazy over the top sin taxes, a person working at minimum wage would be able to enjoy a well deserved cold beer after work just as their 'betters' do.

Overall a little less greed by the powers that be, left, right, center and green would go a long ways to helping solve the situation. More compassion would also help.

Up 10 Down 5

ProScience Greenie on May 30, 2017 at 12:47 pm

Anonymous, you are owed a few more details. We are very lucky in this territory to have so many excellent people that work in government, especially on the front lines. Very roughly, we have 25% of government workers that are top notch. Then we have 50% that show up, do their jobs like any other worker, nothing wrong with that. Then there is the last 25% that fit the do-nothing description. They either do very little, constantly muck things up, always stir up the pot, brown-nose to the extreme or outright scam the system. It is the result of nepotism, favoritism, narcissism and often very shoddy HR that they are there. That's what is meant when I say weed them out. Again, rough numbers, but not that far off.

It should be obvious that in this territory, with government as the number one industry, that everybody and their dog either works for government or is close to others that do. It is all very transparent so one either has to be in on the gravy train or have their head buried in the sand to not be well aware of the good, the bad and the ugly of it all.

Assuming that you are in the 75% pool of good workers, there was no intent to insult but surely you can see the need for a very laser-like, non-sledgehammer type housecleaning. These problems extend into the NGO industry and many businesses totally dependent on government but that is another issue.

Up 4 Down 13

ralpH on May 30, 2017 at 12:27 pm

@Brian WOW what are You puff, puff, puffing. How arrogant.

Up 17 Down 7

Brian on May 30, 2017 at 5:37 am

Minimum wage jobs are for unskilled positions and were occupied by youth. If you can complain about making minimum wage, you have enough brains to educate yourself and strive for something better in life. Minimum wage is a low bar set so employers can't ever screw an employee. It's not meant to be a bar that is sustaining living.
Sorry but if your working a minimum wage job, your pay reflects your contribution to society, that's the one way "Pay" works, your "PAID" according to your contribution or value.
That's the way it is. Start evening courses, strive to be something.
Aside from that, I see a lot of low wage earners smoking cigarettes and other stuff, so you can afford smokes, but wow your rent is out of control, puff puff.
People need to take more responsibility for their accord. I moved to Port Hope Ontario 12 years ago, couldn't find a job, and when I did it was $7.75 hr at an Apple farm in Grafton. I sure wasn't planning on staying at that wage. So, here we are 12 years later, just so you know I had to work for minimum wage too, it sucks.
So what are you gonna do? Complain and let someone raise the Bar or pull your big boy pants up and do It yourself and strive for better.

Up 7 Down 6

Anonymous on May 29, 2017 at 8:52 pm

Pro science,
I was with you at first until you said "weed out the do-nothing's from government". Nice way of stereotyping a very large group of people who are also trying to raise a family and do not have money to throw away. Government employees do not all have money to throw away. I have worked here almost 20 years and came here to raise a family and try to make a better living for my children. We came from nothing. We earned less than 20,000 a year, but because at least one of us works for the government now we must be horrible people. We are do-nothing's even though I put my heart and soul into helping young people every day. People do deserve to be paid more and landlords should not pay outrageous amounts. Up here, we are paying so much more for a minimal or average house. Just do not blame everyone for this.

Up 8 Down 8

north_of_60 on May 29, 2017 at 6:52 pm

@PSG is correct.

Most of the Billion dollars per year that the Yukon gets from the Canadian taxpayers goes to government employees in four levels of government. Many of those government employees and their spousal partners are involved in the lucrative real-estate scam. Very little of that Billion or so ever trickles down to the middle or lower classes.

Kate White is one of the very few trying to balance this ludicrous income disparity in the Yukon. Unfortunately the greedy well-connected establishment will continue to ensure that they get richer while everyone else struggles to barely get by.

Up 17 Down 10

Incredulous on May 29, 2017 at 1:52 pm

Wow. I'm a single woman, with no children, working in the private sector in what is essentially a retail job. I've been at this same job for just over 8 years. Yes, that's right. Eight years.

I make less than 19 dollars an hour. Not by much, but with rents as high as they are in Whitehorse, I could not afford a one bedroom apartment on my income. Not and still pay my car insurance, phone bill, basic Internet, make one credit card payment, buy gas for my small car, and still afford healthy food.

Why are landlords allowed to charge such insane rents? It certainly makes no sense to me to charge someone half of their monthly wage, plus make them pay for electricity etc., while the landlord maintains a profit of 80%.

You tell me where in this city I can find an apartment to rent for less than $1000.00 per month that isn't full of mood, bugs, or has some other problem. I've looked. The lowest rent I can find in a decent place is $1100.00. That's about half of what I take home in a month. If I didn't have good benefits that cover my prescriptions. I would be going in debt every month just to stay alive and healthy.

Maybe a $15.00 wage isn't the way to go for us. But something has got to give. The cost of everything else keeps going up. A raise of 10 cents per hour doesn't seem like much, but it can help.

Kate, you keep fighting for Yukoners. I have absolutely no faith in the liberal government that's been elected. I truly hope I'm wrong and they prove their merit, but I'm not holding my breath.

An Incredulous 5th generation Yukoner.

Up 27 Down 4

ProScience Greenie on May 29, 2017 at 10:38 am

Err, Groucho, with that billion plus a year from Ottawa many Yukon businesses already have a Universal Basic Income. Turn off the tap on that, bust the real estate and developers artificial bubble and weed out the do-nothings from government and then maybe we would have a reality based economy. Unfortunately too many are on that gravy train including most of the powers that be for that to happen.

Up 25 Down 10

Jonathan Colby on May 28, 2017 at 4:51 pm

The people here asking how much Kate White makes are fools. HAHA HOTCHA, HOW MUCH DOYOU MAKE!? NEENER NEENER.

Kate White supports a livable wage, despite the increase in costs. If she were making 200k a year, it would still mean that she looks beyond her front door and personal economics to fight against the clenching fist of late-stage capitalism and its consequences.

She raises the point of others, because to make 100k a year and demand others make less, she is shaming them for (essentially) saying, that, while they recognize that the job being done is important, whoever does it should be poor."

And they should be shamed, for such a shameful attitude.

Up 16 Down 12

Groucho d'North on May 28, 2017 at 10:37 am

Some of the Globalist promoters are now advocating for a Universal Basic Income that all would receive. Step one to the new slavery. I wonder how much Kate White thinks this income level should be?

Up 19 Down 16

Jac on May 27, 2017 at 11:01 pm

I agree with Yukon 56's question. Kate White is no longer a person not making at least better than $90K per year.
Regarding $15/hour, as a business person I could not afford this and hope to have a descent profit margin.

Up 21 Down 12

June Jackson on May 27, 2017 at 10:48 pm

It doesn't matter what social strata you are in.. the rich will always strive to keep the poor ..well..poor. People scream like hell about a few dollars increase in a wage..but think it's just peachy for a landlord to raise rents by $6000 a month or so, when they already generate an income of $1.2 million dollars a year..An extra $25 a month a unit in return for... oh.. wait..nothing..Its just pure greed.. I'd like to think their Karma will be equal to their avarice....This only relates to this issue because.. who got a $25.00 a month raise in pay in the public sector to cover the cost of rising rent? To my knowledge...no one. Their family income is just further in the hole.

That s a pretty steep yearly increase..$300. a year..

It costs an employer approximately $3,000. to train an employee up to standard...https://www.zanebenefits.com/blog/bid/312123/employee-retention-the-real-cost-of-losing-an-employee. It would pay the employer handsomely to look at retention of his/her good employees' and just dump the rest..
ALL that being said.. there are few employer's who are not already paying $15. or $16. an hour, and if that employee is worth keeping.. i know many employer's paying in the $20's...

You always know who's paying well and providing a decent environment...it's the same faces every time you go there.

As for Kate White..she is one of the few that has had any heart in or out of politics.. I might now agree with her, (I am not an NDP at heart) but she genuinely cares about other people, weather she win's or not..she is always trying... So did Jan Stick.. and that's more than you can say about most..maybe all of the other politicians.

Up 30 Down 14

Darrel Drugstore's Smartest Neighbour on May 27, 2017 at 9:32 pm

small businesses are the life blood of the YT
a $15 / hour wage will cripple them
lowering income taxes makes more sense

Up 30 Down 6

north_of_60 on May 27, 2017 at 7:13 pm

Raising the minimum wage only drives inflation. The government should make the cost of living less expensive for the working poor instead. For example: Give free yearly bus passes, CGC passes, and rent subsidies to people with a net taxable income below the poverty line. Increase government support of the food bank. Reduce taxes.

Up 25 Down 11

Billy Bart Barthom on May 27, 2017 at 7:04 pm

Too many immigrants taking part time jobs that should be full time with benefits from Canadians.
Sadly no politician has the political will or balls to go against the establishment.
At some point in time someone has to grab a spine as Canada is too full of bleeding hearts and push overs.

Up 18 Down 9

Jonathan Colby on May 27, 2017 at 6:24 pm

"Increasing wages will make the low income people poorer."

NOW I've heard everything. Mercy!

Up 8 Down 4

ralpH on May 27, 2017 at 3:06 pm

just a few numbers to throw around for 36,000 Yukoners and this includes kids. total cost at 20,000 per person 720,000,000. subtract the 6000 or so government employees that would have it factored in already. 600,000,000. take another 1/3 out because they are youth or not qualified reduces that number to 356,000,000 million. Now you can get rid of employment insurance, old age and welfare and the number reduces substantially. Add a new corporate tax to off set some of this and I would say we would be close to 200,000,000 out of the coffers. The number about 200,000,000 of extra monies going into the economy directly would make quite a difference. and it would end a lot of the other social issues that have been plaguing the Yukon adding more savings. Worth the experiment, heel the investment I would say.

Up 11 Down 8

ralpH on May 27, 2017 at 2:50 pm

Blows my mind that this territory could not be the experiment for basic income supplement. Even the government employees that make up a good portion of the work force could also have part of what they make reconfigured that way. After all at say 20,000 for every man and woman that would only be about half of what is being given to us in federal transfers. All that money would flow right back into the economy of the Yukon. With that much wealth being distributed around a bit of a boost in corporate tax would help supplement the program, eventually boosting the coffers of the Yukon. I would almost gamble to say that in five years or so the impact on the Territorial government would be minimal and they would be back to pre supplement levels. Short term pain for long term gain. At the rate we are spending now make our current practices unsustainable and not affordable to low income families. Rule of thumb injecting money into the system through those that need it is a great economic initiative.

Up 29 Down 6

NeilAlexGeddy on May 27, 2017 at 11:53 am

I would like to see what the impact would be on small business owners before supporting the cause. Kate's heart is in the right place but let's see a study on the impacts of a minimum wage hike on the small business community. Perhaps that info is already available and contributed to the defeated motion.

Up 32 Down 6

Hardworking single mother on May 27, 2017 at 3:25 am

I'm on EI and a part time job and I go to the food bank every month because there is no job out there with a high enough wage for me to live and pay for my son in sports and school.

Up 31 Down 12

JACK on May 27, 2017 at 1:21 am

She herself is aspiring to be mediocre by focusing on a minimum wage instead of doing the hard work and helping these people achieve a maximum wage. She should know that poverty is about more than just money but she doesn't want to do the heavy lifting she's being paid to do.

Blindly copying other regions' policies doesn't address the root cause of poverty at all. Extending the minimum wage simply ensures that some people are locked in poverty forever which, of course, means votes for the NDP.

Up 22 Down 15

Jc on May 26, 2017 at 9:14 pm

Haven't these lefty idiots learned how the system works by now? Raise the minimum wage and the Unions get their their hourly wage raised. Where does it stop? What Canada needs is wage and price controls for the next 10 years at least. And that should include the elected politician wages.

Up 24 Down 12

north_of_60 on May 26, 2017 at 5:46 pm

"Do as we say, not as we do. We know what's best for you",
that's how Lieberals govern.

Up 23 Down 7

Why don't the MLA take on May 26, 2017 at 5:37 pm

a 20% cut in salary to help lower income people?

Up 24 Down 16

NDP don't get it and go back to the same old subjects. on May 26, 2017 at 5:34 pm

Instead of increasing wages remove the taxes. Increasing wages will make the low income people poorer.
Yukoners are lucky the NDP did not get into power.
Alberta is the second highest spending government in Canada.

Up 27 Down 14

yukon56 on May 26, 2017 at 4:36 pm

What are you making Kate?

Up 22 Down 15

Klondike Common Sense on May 26, 2017 at 4:27 pm

This is the wrong approach Kate.
A blanket 15$/hour wage would really cripple small Yukon businesses. What is required is a two tiered approach.

Local
Shops with less than 15-20 staff can exist under current regime, but if you have more than 50 employees (Walmart, Canadian tire etc...) you must give the living wage.
Anyway, glad that we won't be losing all the nice little downtown shops yet.:.

Up 57 Down 11

ProScience Greenie on May 26, 2017 at 3:44 pm

White is correct on this. $11.32 might be fine for a high school student working part time after school but it is too little to survive on for the rest of the people working at that wage. But hey, it's all about low wage, no benefit and subservient labor to most of the Chamber of Commerce types. The big insult was the Nominee TFW thing that paid $15/hr to people brought in from the other side of the world. Too bad the NDP wasn't more vocal about the whole TFW thing when it was being run at full throttle with next to no oversight rather than tilting at the fracking/LNG windmill.

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