Job Opportunities in Canada for Plumbers
Hourly Salary in Selected Parts of Canada
As of August 2011. Source: Labour Market Information – HRSDC.
| Province, Area | Average Wage | High Wage |
|---|---|---|
| British Columbia, Vancouver Lower Mainland | $23.75 | $31.71 |
| Alberta, Calgary | $30.78 | $37.68 |
| Ontario, Toronto | $25.70 | $38.40 |
In addition to their hourly rate, many construction workers receive statutory holiday and vacation pay. Depending on the contract, you may also receive benefits such as group insurance for health, dental and vision care, retirement packages, and training benefits up to 30% of your hourly rate.
Job Regulation in Canada
You are required to have a Canadian qualification in Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. You are not required to have a Canadian qualification in Newfoundland and Labrador, Manitoba, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and the Yukon.
If you require a Canadian qualification, you apply to the regulator for the province where you are going to work. They regulator will assess whether you have the requirements to sit the exam. The assessment time varies from province to province. For example, it takes approximately 8 weeks for this assessment in British Columbia while in Alberta the wait is only 2-3 weeks.
For the assessment, you will need proof of 9000 hours of experience. You should collect documentation that proves your skill level and include letters from employers or unions, diplomas, and other documents that describe your training and the work tasks you have performed. These documents must also show where and for how long you have worked as a plumber. It is important to include as much information as possible about your years of experience and a complete description of your duties at work, because the evaluation of your skills will be based on your on-the-job experience. If you pass the assessment, you have twelve months to take the exam.
You may work as an assistant to a journeyman while obtaining your qualification.
The Certification of Qualification Exam
The Certificate of Qualification exam is a written exam with multiple-choice questions. These questions test your practical knowledge of workplace procedures and tasks. You are allowed three hours to complete the exam. The pass mark for the exam is 70 per cent. The Red Seal is the interprovincial certification that allows certain trades people to work in other Canadian provinces and territories.
Many community colleges offer pre-exam or exam preparation courses. These courses give applicants practice in writing the exams. They usually provide about sixty hours of training over several weekends and cost about $300.
Employment Opportunity in Canada
If you are a plumber interested working in Canada, please send us your resume or c.v. so that we may see if our recruiting services can find you a job and to see if you qualify to migrate without a pre-arranged job. Or you may contact us by completing the form in the upper right side of the page.
We also offer Job Registration Services to Foreign Workers who needs to be registered in order to work in Canada.
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