Canada minimum wage by province 2026, and why the floor still matters for salaried roles

The general hourly minimum depends on the province where the employee works, and the four largest provinces for foreign employers sit between CAD 15.00 and CAD 18.25. Each rate below is the general adult rate from the provincial source, with the date it took effect. The gap between the highest and lowest of the four is CAD 3.25 an hour, which on a full-time year is enough to move a junior budget.

• British Columbia: CAD 18.25 an hour from 1 June 2026.
• Ontario: CAD 17.60 an hour from 1 October 2025 to 30 September 2026, then CAD 17.95 from 1 October 2026.
• Quebec: CAD 16.60 an hour from 1 May 2026, as published by the CNESST.
• Alberta: CAD 15.00 an hour, with no 2026 change announced.
• Federally regulated work: CAD 18.15 an hour from 1 April 2026.

The change dates differ as much as the rates. In 2026 the federal rate moved on 1 April, Quebec on 1 May, British Columbia on 1 June and Ontario on 1 October, while Alberta did not move at all. A payroll covering staff in several provinces therefore needs four separate rate updates in one year, each on its own date.

Alberta also keeps a lower student rate of CAD 13.00 an hour for students under 18, covering their first 28 hours a week during the school term. That rate is unlikely to affect a foreign company’s professional hire, but it explains why Alberta figures sometimes appear as a pair.

Other provinces and territories set their own general rates on their own timetables. If your hire is outside the four provinces covered here, take the current figure from that province’s labour ministry before you draft the offer.

The federal minimum wage of CAD 18.15 an hour, in force from 1 April 2026, covers only employees in federally regulated sectors. The rate is indexed to the consumer price index, so expect it to change again rather than hold for several years.

Treating the federal rate as a national minimum is a common error in cost models. An Ontario software developer employed by a provincially regulated business is covered by the Ontario Employment Standards Act, not the Canada Labour Code, so Ontario’s figure applies. The same logic covers other federal entitlements such as the 10 days of paid medical leave under the Canada Labour Code, which a provincially regulated Ontario employee does not receive.

A quick test for a foreign employer is to ask which statute the offer letter will cite. If the answer is a provincial employment standards act, the provincial floor governs, and the federal rate matters only as a reference point when a role could sit in a federally regulated industry. Settle that question before drafting, because the wage, leave and notice terms in the offer all follow from the answer.

Ontario’s general minimum wage rises from CAD 17.60 to CAD 17.95 an hour on 1 October 2026, an increase of 35 cents, or about 2%. Payroll should apply the higher rate from 1 October, which means a bi-weekly period running across 30 September and 1 October may need two hourly rates.

For an employee on a 40-hour week, the increase adds CAD 14 a week and CAD 728 over 52 weeks. That matters directly for hourly staff near the floor, and indirectly for any pay scale where junior roles are pegged to a margin above the minimum.

Payroll needs to update hourly rates before the first pay that includes October hours, and any written employment information that states the starting wage should reflect the rate in force on the start date. The Ontario Ministry of Labour, Immigration, Training and Skills Development publishes the rate schedule in its guide to the Employment Standards Act.

Ontario used 1 October as its change date in 2025, when the rate became CAD 17.60, and again in 2026. Building an October review of hourly pay into the Ontario payroll calendar is a sensible habit, with the new figure confirmed from the ministry’s guide each year before it takes effect.

A salary must still work out at or above the hourly minimum for every hour worked, so long hours can bring a modest salary close to the floor. The annual equivalents below assume a 40-hour week paid for 52 weeks (2,080 hours), which is a simplification for comparison, not a statutory figure.

• British Columbia at CAD 18.25: CAD 37,960 a year.
• Federal rate at CAD 18.15: CAD 37,752 a year.
• Ontario at CAD 17.95 from 1 October 2026: CAD 37,336 a year (CAD 36,608 at CAD 17.60).
• Quebec at CAD 16.60: CAD 34,528 a year.
• Alberta at CAD 15.00: CAD 31,200 a year.

A worked case shows the risk. Assume an Ontario employee on CAD 40,000 a year who is not exempt from overtime and works 50 hours every week for 52 weeks. The salary divides into about CAD 15.38 an hour, below the CAD 17.95 floor from 1 October 2026, and the 6 hours a week above 44 are also overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate. The same salary at 40 hours a week works out at about CAD 19.23 an hour and clears the floor.

Overtime is the second link. In Ontario, overtime at 1.5 times the regular rate is due after 44 hours a week, and weekly hours above 48 need the employee’s written or electronic agreement. The exemptions cover managers and supervisors plus certain IT and business consultants, but a salaried analyst or coordinator often is not, so record hours for roles that fall outside the exemptions.

Vacation pay and holiday pay sit on top of the base rate. Ontario vacation pay adds a minimum of 4% (6% from the fifth year), and hours worked on a public holiday earn premium pay, so the true hourly cost of a role at the floor is higher than the headline rate.

Paid time off is set province by province in the same way as the hourly rate, so two employees on the same minimum can cost different amounts. Ontario has 9 public holidays under the Employment Standards Act, British Columbia 11 statutory holidays, Alberta 9 general holidays and Quebec 8, while federally regulated employees have 10.

Vacation follows a similar pattern. Ontario starts at 2 weeks a year and moves to 3 weeks once service reaches 5 years, with vacation pay of 4% or 6%. Quebec starts at 1 day per month of service in the first year, up to 2 weeks, then 2 weeks between 1 and 3 years of service and 3 weeks from 3 years, again at 4% or 6%. The Canada Labour Code adds a third step, 4 weeks at 8% after 10 years, for federally regulated work.

Those entitlements are paid on top of the hours worked, so an employer budgeting at the floor should price the role on paid hours, including holidays and vacation, rather than on the hourly rate alone. The difference between provinces is small per employee but becomes visible across a team spread over several of them.

For roles filled through the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, a second and much higher wage line applies: the provincial median hourly wage plus 20%, which separates high-wage from low-wage LMIA streams. From 17 July 2026 it is CAD 36.92 in Ontario, CAD 38.40 in British Columbia, CAD 37.50 in Alberta and CAD 36.00 in Quebec.

Each of those hourly figures is about twice the matching provincial minimum, or more. On the same 2,080-hour assumption, the Ontario threshold equals about CAD 76,794 a year and the British Columbia threshold about CAD 79,872. Low-wage LMIAs are refused in census metropolitan areas with unemployment of 6% or more, subject to exemptions, so the threshold can decide whether an application is possible at all.

The employer-of-record model has a limit here. The TFW Program excludes staffing and employment agencies from the definition of employer when they recruit on another company’s behalf, so the LMIA must be filed by the business that actually takes the worker on, decides the terms and meets the payroll. The Global Talent Stream, which processes eligible LMIAs in 10 business days, is still an LMIA and carries the same requirement. Candidates who hold an open permit, such as an International Experience Canada Working Holiday permit, avoid that issue.

Start from the market rate for the role and use the provincial minimum as a check on hours and overtime rather than as the anchor. Professional salaries for the roles foreign companies usually hire sit well above every provincial floor, and the checks that matter are the hourly equivalent under long hours, the overtime exemption and, in Ontario, the pay-range rule for advertised jobs.

Ontario’s advertising rules, which since 1 January 2026 bind employers of 25 or more, put the pay on the advert as a single figure or a band capped at CAD 50,000, so the salary decision is often made before the first interview. A Quebec role adds a language point, because job offers there must be published in French. The posting stage is covered in our guide to hiring your first employee in Canada.

Salary is only part of the budget. Employer CPP, EI, Ontario Employer Health Tax and WSIB premiums add to it, and our line-by-line costing of an Ontario salary shows a CAD 85,000 Ontario salary costing the employer CAD 93,029.25 a year. When you hire through Employer of Record Canada, the salary is paid by us through our own payroll as employer of record, and we also update hourly rates when a provincial minimum changes; the charge for that is from USD 560 a month for each employee. The other employment rules, province by province, are covered in our employing in Canada overview.