Seven Provinces and Territories Raise Minimum Wage This Fall, Ontario to $17.95

Seven provinces and territories raise their general minimum wage this fall. The Northwest Territories and Nunavut moved on September 1, 2026, and Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Ontario, Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan follow on October 1, per the Canadian Franchise Association's September 10 roundup. Ontario's floor goes to $17.95. For owners with staff near the floor, the payroll increase lands on a published date, which makes it financeable in advance.

Ontario Leads the Five October Increases

Ontario is the largest of the seven. Its general rate goes from $17.60 to $17.95 on October 1, 2026, per the province's own guide to the Employment Standards Act. The student rate moves from $16.60 to $16.90 that day, and the homeworker rate from $19.35 to $19.70.

Nova Scotia's labour department confirms its own step, $16.75 to $17.00 on that same date. The other five come from the CFA roundup alone. It puts Manitoba at $16.00 to $16.40, Saskatchewan at $15.35 to $15.70, and Prince Edward Island at $17.00 to $17.30 on October 1.

Farther north, the roundup lists the Northwest Territories going from $16.95 to $17.20 and Nunavut from $19.75 to $20.17 on September 1. The territory's own minimum wage page still showed $16.95 in mid-September.

Twelve of Thirteen Jurisdictions Raised in 2026

Twelve of Canada's 13 provinces and territories raised the minimum wage at some point in 2026, the CFA reports. Alberta is the one that did not. It has sat at $15.00 since October 2018, which the roundup notes will leave it the lowest floor in the country after October 1.

Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island each raised twice this year. Nova Scotia went from $16.50 to $16.75 in April, then to $17.00 in October. Prince Edward Island went from $16.50 to $17.00 in April, then to $17.30.

Ontario's October step comes out of a 1.9 percent inflation adjustment reaching upwards of 700,000 workers, the roundup reports. It quotes Ontario Labour Minister David Piccini describing the increase as "putting more money in the pockets of Ontario workers."

Thirty-Five Cents Multiplies Across a Roster

On Ontario's 35-cent step, simple arithmetic puts the increase at about $14 a week for one full-time employee at 40 hours, or roughly $728 over a year. A dozen people at or near the floor scale that to a four-figure annual line. CPP, EI and vacation pay ride on top of every wage rate.

Operators in more than one jurisdiction get two dates instead of one, and each jurisdiction starts from a different floor. The territories moved September 1. The five provinces move October 1.