Quebec’s minimum wage is going up on May 1

A clothing store, photographed in Montreal on December 26, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

Quebec’s minimum wage will increase from $16.10 to $16.60 per hour on May 1.

Approximately 258,900 employees are expected to benefit from this 50-cent-per-hour increase, or 3.1 per cent, in industries such as retail.

For tipped employees, the hourly rate will increase from $12.90 to $13.30 on that date. This also represents a 3.1 per cent increase.

In an interview with The Canadian Press on Thursday, Labour Minister Jean Boulet said he believes this strikes a good balance between protecting workers from inflation and the ability of small and medium-sized businesses, which often employ these minimum-wage workers, to pay them.

He noted that the 3.1 per cent increase is higher than the 1.97 per cent inflation rate forecast by the Ministry of Finance for this period.

- This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Jan. 22, 2026.