List of minimum wages in Canada

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Under the Constitution of Canada the responsibility for enacting and enforcing labour laws including minimum wages in Canada rests with the ten provinces, the three territories also having been granted this power by virtue of federal legislation. This means that each province and territory has its own minimum wage. The lowest general minimum wage in force as of February 2007 is that of currently 3 provinces ($7.00/hour), the highest is that of Nunavut ($8.50/hour). Some provinces allow lower wages to be paid to liquor servers and other tip earners, and/or to inexperienced employees. British Columbia allows employers to pay as little as $6/hour to an inexperienced worker.

The federal government in years past has set its own minimum wage rates for workers in federal jurisdiction industries (railways for example). In 1996 however, the federal minimum wage was re-defined to be the general adult minimum wage rate of the province or territory where the work is performed. This means, for example, that a railway company could not legally pay a worker in British Columbia less than $8/hour regardless of the worker's experience.

This list of minimum wages in Canada collects the minimum wages in Canadian dollars (CAD) set by each province and territory of Canada. Assuming a 40 hour work week for four weeks a month, the monthly gross incomes of individuals earning the lowest and highest minimum wages in Canada are $1040 and $1360 respectively. Based on March 2007 exchange rates, Canadian minimum wages in every jurisdiction are somewhat higher than the U.S. federal minimum wage rate of US$5.15/hr, however critics of current minimum wages levels in Canada often claim that they are insufficient and advocate that they be raised to what they claim to be the living wage. The New Democratic Party recently called for a separate federal minimum wage of $10/hour (higher than any current provincial minimum), [1] although as mentioned above such a change could not be enforced on any employer operating under provincial jurisdiction (unless the province voluntarily agreed to harmonize its own minimum wage).

The following table is a list of hourly minimum wages for adult workers in Canada. The provinces which have their minimum wages in italics allow for lower wages under circumstances which are described under the "Comments" heading.

Jurisdiction	Wage (CAD$)	Since	Comments
Alberta	7.00	September 1, 2005	Prior to September 1, 2005, the rate was at $5.90 making it the lowest rate in Canada.
British Columbia	8.00	November 1, 2001	The fourth highest in Canada. However this applies only once a person has worked for more than 500 hours with one or more employers; the "First Job/Entry Level" minimum wage is $6.00.
Manitoba	7.60	April 1, 2006	Planned increase on April 1, 2007 (8.00)
New Brunswick	7.00	January 1, 2007	Increased from 6.70 - Remains one of the lowest minimum wages in Canada.
Newfoundland and Labrador	7.00	January 1, 2007
Northwest Territories	8.25	December 28, 2003	The second highest in Canada.
Nova Scotia	7.15	April 1, 2006	Lower minimum wage for "inexperienced workers" (6.75).
Nunavut	8.50	March 3, 2003	The highest in Canada.
Ontario	8.00	February 1, 2007	Lower minimum wages in effect for those under age 18 (7.50) and liquor servers (6.95).
Prince Edward Island	7.15	April 1, 2006
Quebec	7.75	May 1, 2006	Planned increase on May 1, 2007 (8.00), and for workers receiving gratuities (7.25). Lower minimum wage for workers receiving gratuities (7.00).
Saskatchewan	7.95	March 1, 2007	Up from (7.55)[2]
Yukon	8.25	May 1, 2006