Salary Confessions: 7 Canadians Get Candid About Their Wages

We all do it: someone tells you their line of work, and you instantly think, Gosh, I wonder what that job pays? Often there’s a more anxious question lurking behind it, which is: Am I keeping up? That question has gained new urgency as growth in tech, energy, health care, and beyond has swelled some workers’ pay, while others have seen wages stagnate. We asked seven Canadians to divulge how they’re faring, and to reveal their annual salaries.

Doctor, medical specialist 

Montreal 

$800,000 Up to $200,000 extra for paid appearances

I make a great living, but I work f*cking hard. My specialty requires that I be on call nights and weekends, and that often means being awake for the majority of the night. It’s stressful. Doctors often quit because the job is just incompatible with a normal life, but I’ve done it for three decades now. People often say my workload seems impossible. But Canadian medicine is mostly fee-for-service, so I’m paid by visit — and a follow-up patient only pays me $29. So it’s a volume game. I deserve 10 times what I make. I know what American doctors get paid for this same job.

Snow scientist

Canmore, Alta.

$78,000

The research lab here operates about 30 weather stations that collect information on solar radiation bouncing off the snow. We do this in part to predict how much water is going to come down from the mountains and downriver. We quite literally hike up the mountain to check the stations and to collect snow samples; in the wintertime, we use backcountry skis.

It’s my first job. I can go for dinner a couple times a month and still have a bit left over to invest. If I were to have a family one day, it would not be enough, but as a single person living with a roommate, I do OK.

Scavenger and garbage picker

Montreal

~$50,000

I’ve become a master of finding stuff on the curb and knowing the resale value. I’m always after precious metals, like gold or silver, but if I’m really lucky, I’ll find jewellery that someone has undervalued. I used to sell on eBay more, but now with the tariffs, I mostly use Mobile Auction House, and I have yard sales for random, fun stuff that I enjoy selling. I have a degree in sociology. For a while I considered trying for a master’s, but I was sick of academia. So I started finding things on curbs. At first — this was about 15 years ago — I didn’t make much money, but I only paid, like, $300 a month in rent. Now I’m more professional and I have some savings, which is nice. 

Lawyer at a legal-tech firm

Markham, Ont.

$190,000 Plus equity

My role isn’t the traditional in-house counsel role you’d see at a bank or a large corporation — our customers are law firms, and they want a lawyer who can speak their language. At a traditional law firm, compensation is completely fixed for the first six years — for instance, everybody in your year starts at $135,000 and then climbs by either $20,000 or $25,000 per year. After that, it’s negotiated up to a limit. At my current company, everything is up for negotiation.

Even though I’m conscious of lifestyle creep, it feels like every time I get a raise, I’m still making the same amount of money. My life doesn’t feel much different in 2026 making $190,000 than it did in 2024 making $135,000. The rising cost of living is part of it. As soon as you start to get ahead, suddenly a war breaks out and now gas costs nearly double what it did six months ago.

Therapeutic clown and circus artist 

Toronto

$40,000

On Mondays and Thursdays, I teach aerial silks, a type of circus art. Private lessons are $80 an hour, and a group class can be $150 an hour. Tuesdays and Wednesdays are therapeutic-clowning days at a hospital and a recovery centre. That’s about $50 an hour. Sometimes on Fridays and Saturdays, I’ll have a clowning shift at a facility for people with complex needs. It’s not big bucks, but we get to help clients feel dignified and empowered.

Helicopter mechanic

Vernon, B.C.

$85,000 Up to $45,000 in overtime

My base salary is $85,000, but my pay is heavily dependent on how much the helicopter flies in a shift. It’s called “flight pay,” and the amount varies based on what machine you’re working on. The bigger the machine, the bigger the pay. With that, I make around $110,000 to $130,000. But I still feel heavily under-compensated, since one mistake could cost the lives of multiple pilots. A few times, I’ve been unable to sleep because of the stress. Once I even went to the hangar at 2 a.m. — a 45-minute drive each way — just to make sure I did a job correctly. 

Where I live in B.C. is fairly expensive, but with my wage and my partner’s, we’re comfortable. Not thriving but comfortable. We take vacations, and we’re planning to buy a house soon. But my main goal in life is to own a small bush plane; the one I want costs about US$500,000.

Local news reporter

St. John’s, Nfld.

$70,000 Up to $3,000 in overtime

I’ve been doing this for two years. Sometimes I’m reading the news on air, sometimes I’m producing radio or TV segments, sometimes I’m reporting. It’s exciting, and it’s a great living. Or maybe not great, but it’s extremely doable here. I was looking to buy a home recently, but the housing market is freaking nuts. I could afford the list prices, but everything is going for $25,000, $50,000, or $100,000 over asking. So I’m priced out right now.

Written By

Jenna Benchetrit

Jenna Benchetrit is the senior business & markets reporter at TLDR, Wealthsimple Media's flagship financial newsletter. She was formerly a senior business writer at CBC News, where she covered economics and consumer issues for a Canadian audience.