1) It will depend on which province the employee works in, as well as the type of industry.

Section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867 lays out the list that divides the powers up between the provinces and federal government. Keep in mind the context of when and where this list was made: in 1867, Canada (finally) became a country, there were only four provinces (the largest of which was a French, catholic population), and there was a quasi-alcoholic anglo prime minister in Ottawa (which was essentially in the middle of the forest to avoid attack by the Americans) who was trying to hang on to the areas that would consolidate political power, while encouraging economic growth and political support in the regions. So, railroads, banks, postal service, telegraphs, shiplines and the military, for example, are governed by the federal government. "Property and civil rights", however, falls under provincial jurisdiction, and over the years, as been read more and more broadly, contributing to the growing decentralization of powers since the country's 19th century birth. To make a long constitutional story short, labour and employment falls under this category, so that by default, the provincial laws usually apply (unless your industry was useful to the federal government in 1867, as per preceding paragraph). Wikipedia has an article on Canadian federalism if you are keen to know more. The standards Im going to expose are mainly based on employers who are governed by provincial employment laws and not federal, this accounts for roughly 95% of all employers in Canada. According to the Code, the general standards are the following:

For most employees covered under the Code, the Standard Hours of work prior to overtime having to be paid are 8 hours in a day and 40 hours in a week. The Maximum hours that most employees may work are 48 hours per week. Maximum Hours may be exceeded with a Ministerial permit, or due to an emergency. Standard Hours and Maximum Hours may be varied with an Averaging Plan or Modified Schedule. Employees shall have at least one full day of rest in the week. Overtime Pay: once standard hours are exceeded, the employer must pay a rate of at least one and one-half times the regular rate of pay.

For the 95% of Canadians covered by provincial employment laws, we did a table that compares each provincial legislation with the federal legislation: Jurisdiction Federal Alberta Standard Hours 8 in a day; 40 in a week 8 in a day; 44 in a week Maximum Hours 48 in a week 12 consecutive hours in a day Overtime Rate 1 times reg. rate 1 times reg. rate Minimum Rest Periods 1 day per week 8 hours between shifts; 1 day per week

British Columbia

8 in a day; 40 in a week

1 or 2 times reg. rate

Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland and Labrador

8 in a day; 40 in a week 44 in a week 40 in a week

/ / 14 in a day

1 times reg. rate 1 times min. wage 1 times min. wage

Northwest Territories and Nunavut Nova Scotia Ontario

8 in a day; 40 in a week

10 in a day; 60 in a week

1 times reg. rate

8 consecutive hours between shifts; 32 consecutive hours in a week 24 consecutive hours in a week 24 consecutive hours in a week 8 consecutive hours in a 24-hour period; 24 consecutive hours in a week 1 day per week

48 in a week 44 in a week

/ 8 in a day (or employee s regular work day if more); 48 in a week

1 times reg. rate 1 times reg. rate

Prince Edward Island Quebec Saskatchewan

48 in a week

1 times reg. rate 1 times reg. rate 1 times reg. rate

24 consecutive hours in a 7-day period 8 hours between shifts; 11 consecutive hours in a day; 24 consecutive hours in a week or 48 consecutive hours in a 2-week period 24 consecutive hours in a 7-day period 32 consecutive hours in a week 8 consecutive hours in a 24-hour period; 24 or 48 consecutive hours in a 7-day period 8 consecutive hours between shifts; 2 days per week

40 in a week 8 in a day; 40 in a week

/ 44 in a week

Yukon

8 in a day; 40 in a week

1 times reg. rate

Vacation pay regulations in Canada are not as straight forward as many Canadians might think. Each province has different rules and regulations with regard to the amount of vacation pay and time each person can take. PROVINCES and TERRITORIES Federal Extension of Vacation Time after 1 year after 6 years Extension of Vacation Pay 2 weeks 3 weeks

British Columbia Alberta Saskatchewan Manitoba Ontario Quebec Newfoundland and Labrador New Brunswick Nova Scotia PEI NWT Yukon Nunavut

After 5 years After 5th year After 10th year After 5th year No After 5th Year After 15 years After 8 years After 8 years After 8 years After 5 years No After 5 years

3 weeks 3 weeks 4 weeks 3 weeks No 3 weeks 3 weeks 3 weeks 3 weeks 3 weeks 3 weeks No 3 weeks

4) Under the Constitution of Canada, the responsibility for enacting and enforcing labour laws, including minimum wages in Canada, rests with the ten provinces as well as 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 wages currently in force is that of Yukon Territory ($9.00/hour) and the highest is that of Nunavut ($11.00/hour). Some provinces allow lower wages to be paid to liquor servers and other tip earners, and/or to inexperienced employees. The Employment Standards Act of British Columbia had formerly allowed employers to pay as little as $6/hour to new workers with less than 500 hours of work experience[1] (about three months of full-time employment, six months half-time, or one year quarter-time). For those in the Yukon, the minimum wage rate applies to employees who are 17 years of age or over. 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 redefined 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 $9.50/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 4.34 weeks a month, the monthly gross incomes of individuals earning the lowest and highest minimum wages in Canada are $1345 and $1519, respectively. Based on current exchange rates, Canadian minimum wages in every jurisdiction are higher than the U.S. federal minimum wage of $7.25/hour; however, critics of current minimum wage 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 federal New Democratic Party had called for a separate federal minimum wage of $10/hour,[2] 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). On October 1, 2009, M.P. Irene Mathyssen introduced a private member's bill (C-448) to amend the Canada Labour Code with regard to the minimum wage and have the federal minimum wage set to $12/hr.[3] The minimum wage per province shows us that the provincial average is about $10 per hour with an homogeneous result (from $9.40 to $11 that is pretty close). But we also notice that the federal workers are paid $12 per hour that give them a true privilege.

Province Federal Alberta BC Manitoba New Brunswick Newfoundland NWT Nova Scotia Nunavut Ontario PEI Quebec Saskatchewan Yukon

Minimum Wage per hour in 2011 $ 12.00 $9.40 $9.50 $10.00 $9.50 $10.00 $10.00 $10.00 $11.00 $10.25 $9.60 $9.65 $9.50 $9.00

Before talking about the wages per type of job, we should remind what the social classes in Canada are and what part of the population belongs to each class.

SOCIAL CLASSES IN CANADA The Upper Class

Perhaps 3-5% of Canadians fall into this class. Most of their wealth is inherited. Their children go to private schools and they exercise great power in occupational positions.

Upper-Upper Class One percent belongs to an upper-upper class distinguished primarily by "old money."

Lower-Upper Class

The remaining 2-4% fall into the lower-upper class and depend more on earnings than inherited wealth.

The Middle Class

About 40-50% of the Canadian population falls into this category. Because of its size, it has tremendous influence on patterns of Canadian culture. There is big racial and ethnic diversity in this class and it is not characterized by exclusiveness and familiarity. The top half of this category is called the "upper-middle" class with family incomes of $50,000 to $100,000 earned from upper managerial or professional fields. The rest of the middle class (average middles) typically works in less prestigious white-collar occupations or highly skilled blue-collar jobs.

The Working Class

This class comprises about 30% of the population and has lower incomes than the middle class. Their jobs provide less personal satisfaction.

The Lower Class

The remaining 20% of our population is identified as the lower class. In 2001 roughly 16% of the Canadian population were labeled as poor. Many are supported entirely by welfare payments, while others are among the "working poor" whose incomes are insufficient to cover necessities like food, shelter, and clothing. They typically live in less desirable neighborhoods-often racially or ethnically distinct-and their children are often resigned to living the same hopeless lives of their parents.

We shall also compare the incomes by province to see that the province of Alberta had (in 2007) the wealthiest median income witch shows the good economic health of this region and that New Brunswick had the lowest.

Now, we can see the hourly wage per type of work, gender, age or type of contract.
Categories October 2011 average hourly wage ($)

15 years and over 15 to 24 years 25 to 54 years 55 years and over Men Women Full-time Part-time

23.06 13.75 24.85 24.52 24.64 21.44 24.58 16.41

Union coverage No union coverage Permanent job Temporary job Management occupations Business, finance and administrative occupations Natural and applied sciences and related occupations Health occupations Occupations in social science, education, government service and religion Occupations in art, culture, recreation and sport Sales and service occupations Trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations Occupations unique to primary industry Occupations unique to processing, manufacturing and utilities

26.71 21.42 23.71 18.90 34.92 21.75 32.32 26.62 29.95 23.16 15.64 22.79 20.54 19.71

Health care in Canada

All Canadian citizens and permanent residents are eligible for health insurance in Canada.

Canadas health insurance system is set up to respond to peoples need for health care rather than their ability to pay for it. Often referred to as medicare, the system is designed to make sure that all residents of Canada have reasonable access to health care from doctors and hospitals.

Instead of having a single national plan, Canadas health care program is made up of provincial and territorial health insurance plans, all of which share certain common features and standards. Canadas public health care system is funded through taxes and administered by the provinces and territories.

Public health insurance

All Canadians and permanent residents may apply for health insurance. When you have health insurance you do not have to pay directly for most health-care services. They are paid for through your taxes. When you use health-care services, you simply show your health insurance card to the hospital or medical clinic. Health insurance is different in each province and territory. The medical care your province or territory offers might not be covered in other provinces and territories. When you travel, check your coverage; you may require private health insurance.

To resume, the Canadian health care has a trilateral character; The federal government provide the majority of the budget but each province and each city can manage some other aspects as we can see below :

HEALTH FEDERAL - contribution to the provincial health programs - Health services for Aboriginal - Formulation of general national standards - Research funding - Promotion and health protection - universal hospital insurance and medical insurance

SOCIAL WELFARE - large income support programs - cost-sharing of protection programs

PROVINCIAL

- assistance programs and social services - Compensation for injured

HEALTH - Dental care and medications CITY - Public Health and Hygiene - Administration of hospitals

SOCIAL WELFARE at work - some social assistance programs and some social services

Funding
The Canadian health care is funded by the employer, the employee and the salary. The rate of each contribution for each risk are :

Risks Pension disability, old age and war survivors Accidents Unemployment

Employers 4,95 %

Employees 4,95 %

Salary contributory Between $3 500 and $48 300 per year Depending provinces $44 200 per year

Depending risks 2,49 %

1,78 %