# What You Need to Know About Tipping in Canada > In Canada, tipping is popular even in places where it isn't really expected. Here's where and how much to tip so you never come across as rude. - URL: https://langandtrip.com.ua/en/article/shcho-potribno-znaty-pro-chayovi-v-kanadi/ - Language: en - Published: 2022-09-27 - Categories: Culture, Leisure, Restaurants, Hotels, Canada, Food & Drinks --- Canadians love to tip. Even though servers in Canada earn around 11 dollars an hour, which is above the minimum wage set for restaurant workers in the US, they follow American hospitality tipping customs almost to the letter. Even in the spots where tips aren't really expected, they turn out to be surprisingly popular. Here's how it works. ## From the Big City to the Small Town In Toronto, the math is simple. Every bill has a 13% HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) added at the bottom. Take that figure, round it up, and you land somewhere around 15%, which Torontonians consider the bare minimum tip for a meal. For especially good service, that number can climb to 18% or more. Pubs are the city's classic drinking spots, where cocktails are still considered trendy (and therefore worth a percentage tip), while the standard tip for a beer or an equivalent drink is 1 dollar per round. Vancouver's tax system is trickier, with 5% on food and 5% plus a 10% provincial tax on alcohol, but the standard tip stays the same; you might need to reach for your phone to work it all out. According to a recent study by the national firm Angus Reid, tips in smaller towns tend to sit closer to the 10% mark for restaurants, with a similar "a buck a beer" system for bars. ## Quebec Stands Apart In Quebec, people speak French, and the provincial government is called the National Assembly. So it's no surprise that Quebecers tip differently. You're expected to be more generous in la belle Province, and you'll be judged if you don't stick to the local tipping standards. Last year a controversy erupted when a popular tourist restaurant in Quebec City, the province's second largest urban centre, charged a Vancouverite of Asian descent a 15% tip, pointing to a long standing practice of adding a service charge for Asian tourists. The blatant racism caused an uproar, but there was another hidden message too: don't leave without tipping. Eighteen percent is the norm, 20 isn't uncommon, and if you really had a great time, 25% won't raise any eyebrows. If you're planning to visit Montreal, be ready to tip. It's expected at hotels, bars and restaurants. But tipping isn't limited to Quebec's restaurants, where servers and bartenders earn at least $9.80 an hour. The Yellow Pages of Montreal (remember those?) even has an entire section on hotel tipping if you feel like doing a little research. It's a fairly long section, but the key takeaways, confirmed by Eva Pare, CEO of the Greater Montreal Hotel Association: $2 to $5 a day for housekeepers, $2 to $5 for the valet, $1 to $2 per bag for the bellhop, and up to $20 for the concierge who gives you a tip you actually end up using. ## How Tourism Shapes Tipping ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-28-2-1024x512.jpg) Tourism in Canada is highly seasonal, which means people who work in tourist destinations, like Niagara Falls in summer and Whistler in winter, have limited windows to earn. That shapes both the expectations and, for the most part, the behaviour around tips. Expect the card readers on your table to suggest 20% and even 25% by default. Of course, you're free to tip whatever you like, but in tourist spots the low end of tipping tends to hover around 18% rather than 15%. Staff at businesses in tourist heavy places like Whistler have limited chances to earn and generally expect a tip from you. The same goes for drivers, both taxis and rideshares. Instead of just rounding up, think 15% and then round that figure up. Don't forget the guides, the narrators on bus and boat tours, the paddleboard instructors... the list goes on. These kinds of tour operators are usually hoping for a little extra. ## Taxis, Hotels, Coffee and Plenty More Across the country, in cities and small towns alike, the rule is to round up to the nearest $5 when you take a taxi. The Montreal Yellow Pages model, $1 to $2 per bag for bellhops and so on, is a good guide to follow when you stay at a hotel in Canada. Tim Horton's isn't just a doughnut shop, it's a national institution. And some might find it curious that earlier this year an uproar broke out over the news that one of its restaurants had banned its employees from accepting tips. With an average bill of $2 to $3, you wouldn't think tips would be a big deal. But they definitely are. A nationwide boycott followed, Canadian Twitter lit up with outrage, and people stood outside Tim Horton's locations handing tips to employees as they finished their shifts or took a mid day break. Beck Mago, a Tim Horton employee in Nova Scotia, even took to Quora to clear things up. Despite the low prices and the fact that the place is mostly takeout, at least half of customers tip the "Timmy's" staff, often in the form of round up tips, but sometimes up to 10 dollars on a box of "Timbits" (doughnut holes, for the uninitiated) that costs 6 dollars. Many Canadians also tend toward generosity when travelling by train. Canada's national rail service is often mocked but dearly loved, a fact backed up by the roughly one third of passengers on the busy Windsor to Quebec City rail corridor who tip the service staff when they order coffee or snacks. According to VIA service worker Alexandre Belan, these are mostly round up tips. "A coffee costs 2.25 dollars," he says, "so people sometimes just hand over 3 dollars." Not surprisingly, he gets the most tips on the Quebec routes between Montreal and Quebec City. Foreign tourists aren't obliged to tip in this situation, but the gesture won't be turned down either. ## New Frontiers of Tipping ![](/storage/image/prev/july-article-28-1-1024x538.jpg) With the spread of card readers at the point of sale, everyone from bike shops to dry cleaners can now prompt you for a tip when you pay by card. Of course, you're free to do as you see fit (the minimum wage in Canada hovers around 14 dollars an hour), but if a business doesn't have a clear system for sharing out tips, you're doing it at your own risk. Ever since a spot called "Smoke'n Water" opened in the tiny town of Parksville, British Columbia, in 2014, a wave of "no tipping" restaurants has swept across the country. The latest is the trendy upscale spot Bistro Rosie in Montreal. Instead of accepting gratuities, they charge a flat rate ($44 for two courses, $55 for three, and so on). The staff, according to owner Sophie Duchastel de Montrouge, earn between 15 and 25 dollars an hour. It's not a trend yet, and given that Smoke'n Water dropped its policy after three months following protests from customers who wanted to leave more money, it's hardly the tip of the iceberg.