To the surprise of no one, the income a single Montrealer needs to live comfortably rose by 9% between 2022 and 2023. That's according to the Institut de recherche et d’informations socioéconomiques (IRIS), which published the 2023 edition of its sustainable income report on May 3. The report identifies the minimum-income residents of seven Quebec cities Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, Saguenay, Sept-Îles, Sherbrooke and Trois-Rivières need to live not just above the poverty line but "with dignity."
An independent committee is recommending that Quebec National Assembly members get a $30,205 pay raise. That's a 29.7% increase from their current base salary of $101,561. The new annual base salary would be $131,766. For context, the median income in Quebec was $39,300 in 2020, the latest year for which Statistics Canada has salary data. The Quebec premier would get an even bigger bump.
Quebecers are making more money. In a February 23 release, the province's Institut de la statistique noted an "unprecedented" increase in the median Quebec employment income in 2021: 9% among 24-to-60-year-olds compared to just 1.8% in 2020.
Everyone considers themselves middle class. It's a political fiction. But, as financial planner Denis Bourque shows in a January Tiktok video, a breakdown of average salaries in Quebec reveals the province's true class thresholds.
Cha-ching. Some Quebecers could see significant salary bumps next year, according to projections published Thursday by the Conseil du patronat du Québec (CPQ), an organization that represents more than 70,000 employers in the province.