The BC Liberals are getting pressure from inside and outside to hike the minimum wage, once among the highest in Canada and now among the lowest.

Moira Stilwell, the first candidate to join the race to replace outgoing Liberal leader Gordon Campbell, issued a news release Wednesday saying she'd hike the wage.

And Education Minister George Abbott, who sources say will enter the race Thursday, said the minimum wage should be "reviewed." Health Minister Kevin Falcon, also expected to be a contender, said the matter should be revisited.

The subject became a campaign topic Thursday after an anti-poverty group released a report that found one in seven B.C. children are living in poverty and the minimum wage is the route to changing that.

"We need to take immediate steps to help BC's neediest families," Stilwell said in a statement.

"We need an increase in the minimum wage, and we should move ahead as soon as possible."

She has proposed hiking the minimum wage to $8.50 per hour immediately, followed by 50-cent increases every six months to $10.

B.C.'s current wage of $8 per hour is the lowest in Canada, and was last increased when the Liberals first took power in 2001.

The rate remained the same throughout Campbell's almost 10 years in office, leaving a huge policy gap for the candidates to fill.

"I certainly believe it should be reviewed, it's been a long time since it's been changed," said Abbott.

He said the recession of the past two years made it difficult to address the matter out of fears of further frustrating the economy, he said.

"That is not a good time to look at it. This is a much better time, I think, to be reviewing minimum wage."

Health Minister Kevin Falcon, who said Wednesday he'll announce whether he intends to run for leader within the next couple of weeks, said there's "no question" the issue of the minimum wage should be examined.

"While a higher minimum wage, I think, is the right thing to do, I think you always have to strike the balance between making sure you don't make it so high you discourage small businesses from hiring young people."

The finance committee has already recommended the minimum wage be raised, and so the next step is for wide consultations, Falcon added.

When the Liberals last increased B.C.'s minimum wage, the rate was the highest in Canada. But in the following decade, every other province has surpassed B.C.

Stilwell has grabbed high ground with her proposal, said Lindsay Meredith, a Simon Fraser University marketing professor.

"She pulled a good political move," he said. "She's the first out of the gate with it, now the rest of them who want to go along with it will be playing the 'me too' card."

But Children's Minister Mary Polak, who is not expected to run for the leadership, said the province needs to "exercise some caution" in boosting the rate as a solution to child poverty.

"Raising the minimum wage doesn't just affect wages, there are other things to consider, and we want to be careful that we help those very people that we intend to," she said.

In their report released Wednesday, the BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition found one in seven children is living in poverty, adding the recession will likely make things worse.

While the group noted poverty rates dropped in 2008, that's when the recession was dawning. The bleak times are almost certain to produce higher poverty figures for 2009 and 2010, said provincial co-ordinator Adrienne Montani.

The report stated the 2008 child poverty rate in B.C. was 14.5 per cent, or 121,000 children. The rate for children under the age of six was even higher, at 19.6 per cent, or one in five young children.

Polak didn't put much weight in the report, stating broader provincial poverty rates have declined for the past five consecutive years, nearly halving the rate since 2003. A recent paper from the Canadian Federation of Independent Business pointed to the loss of low-income jobs when wages rise, she added.

"There are many other unintended consequences" of raising the minimum wage, she said, adding the government doesn't have any specific poverty reduction target.