You adked about min wage... just curious what is min wage in Canada?

varies from 9.95 to 11, depending on province

the highest province(NS) actually has a min wage of 10.40 I think, though ontario goes up to 11 this summer. Alberta has the lowest at 9.95.

Unlike the US, servers don't get screwed too hard. I think the lowest a server can make anywhere is around $9/hour and even that is changing.

Some additional curious info I learned while googling this:

-About 2.4% of employees in western canada earn minimum wage overall
-about 5.8% of employees in canada overall earn minimum wage overall

to compare that actually means Canadians are more likely to work at minimum wage then americans. Though about 60% of canadian minimum wage earners are under 25 whereas half of american min wage earners are under 25. That leaves the numbers over 25 basically the same.

also these percentages do exaggerate the numbers. Offhand I think less then half workforce are paid hourly at all.

And foreign workers can be brought in at -15%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minimum_wage_in_Canada

fairly tightly bunched; Alberta (our rightest leaning province) has the lowest wage..... but prices/wages are buoyed out there by oil & gas anyway :p

Yeah servers in the US do get fluffed over. $2 an hour is a joke. Although Americans are good tippers so they make up for it. When I worked at a casino while in college the servers got that 2.whatever an hour but they would pull in 120+ per day in tips. Not sure how they do in an actual restaurant but I think most of the time tips more than make up for it.

Now when I worked at Walmart I made $8.something per hour and made less money than I made being a bartender at the casino even though my per hour wage sucked fluff.

From what I understand, most below min wage Jobe have to pay the employee at least min wage including their tips. If they have a bad weak tip wise they still get min wage. But usually they make the $2 an hour and tips make them well above min wage.

In addition, if you are working at a nice resturant, you can make $20+ per table in tips. I roomed with someone who brought home 200+ per night working at a nice steakhouse on the lake. If you are a fluff to waiter and work at Applebee's your whole life, you are going to stay in that min wage area. Apply yourself and you make more money. Isn't that weird?

certain kinds of workers are exempted though (like farm workers).

this issue in Canada is more underemployment (more so than wages) is inability to get enough hours of work thiis has to do with how stat benefits work here. it isn't uncommon for lower wage earners to work multiple jobs to earn enough salary. welfare in most places in Canada will bend you over good.... an unemployed person is better off in the us than many places in Canada.... unless you can't work at all due to a disability and have kids and can prove it I guess...

What these guys said!

I had karate this morning & went bouldering at the gym after...