The state minimum wage will be raised to $16.65 an hour on Saturday to stave off inflation, but that only applies to workers in state-regulated industries.
This $1.10 hourly increase in the hourly rate will therefore only affect government employees, parliamentarians and a few state-regulated private sectors, The Globe and Mail reported on Friday.
As such, this increase will target workers in banks, the interprovincial transportation sector, federal crown companies, the postal services, and the radio and television sectors.
When minimum wages tend to differ between the provincial and federal sectors, federally regulated employers must apply the higher minimum wage between the two.
On the Quebec side, the minimum wage is set to increase by $1 an hour to reach $15.25 on May 1, 2023, the government announced in January.
However, it is currently among the lowest in the country.
Its $14.25 an hour rate puts it just ahead of Manitoba’s $14.15 and the province of Saskatchewan at just $13 an hour, according to Statistics Canada data reported by Ontario media.
Well across the front lines, the Yukon offers a $16.77 minimum wage, which even exceeds the federal offer.
Closely followed by Nunavut at $16 per hour, British Columbia at $15.65 per hour and Ontario at $15.50.