Forklift operator: pay in Quebec and Greater Montreal
A forklift operator moves palletized goods in warehouses, distribution centres and plants. Around Montreal, the work sits in the industrial parks of Montreal, Laval, the Montérégie and the Laurentides. This page covers the duties, the shifts, the training Quebec's health and safety regulation requires, and wages by region.
- Quebec median
- $22/h
- Range
- $16.94 – $31.32/h
- Montreal
- $21/h
Guichet-Emplois (Job Bank), edition 2025 · CNP 75101
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Forklift operator pay, region by region
| Region | Low | Median | High | vs Quebec | Offered in postings |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All of Quebec | $16.94 | $22 | $31.32 | — | — |
| Montérégie | $19.09 | $23.28 | $31.90 | +6% | $22.50 (284) |
| Montréal | $16.10 | $21 | $26 | −5% | $22.66 (134) |
| Laval | $16.10 | $21 | $30.50 | −5% | $23.20 (29) |
| Lanaudière | $18.50 | $22.74 | $38 | +3% | $20.96 (69) |
| Laurentides | $18 | $20.80 | $30 | −5% | $21 (53) |
The table covers NOC 75101, “Material handlers”. It pools the forklift operator with the warehouse roles that work without a truck: material handler, truck loader, warehouse worker. Operating a lift truck is not measured on its own.
Low, median and high wages published by Job Bank (NOC 75101), and pay offered in Greater Montreal job postings (6 months, February to August 2026); in brackets, the number of hourly postings — under ten, no median is shown.
Quebec median by file edition: 2023: $20/h · 2024: $21/h · 2025: $22/h.
What the job postings say
Of 590 postings on Job Bank in Greater Montreal (6 months, February to August 2026), 4% mention a night shift, 12% an evening shift and 6% weekends.
Warehouses rarely run on one shift. Days handle receiving and picking, evenings handle shipping, nights replenish the pick locations. For the operator, the shift changes the job itself: on days you share the aisles with pedestrians, carriers and production; at night the crew is smaller, you drive longer stretches without interruption, and there is less help on hand when a pallet drops or a truck goes down. In cold storage, time in the freezer is broken into shorter blocks. Availability for evenings, nights and weekends is confirmed before the interview, not after the offer.
What a forklift operator does
- Load and unload trailers at the dock with a counterbalance truck or an electric pallet jack
- Stack and unstack pallets in the racking, often at the upper levels
- Move pallets between receiving, storage locations and the shipping docks
- Feed production lines and picking zones with materials and empty pallets
- Inspect the truck before every shift: brakes, forks, tires, horn, fluid levels, operator restraint
- Swap the propane tank or connect the battery on an electric truck, following the site procedure
- Scan pallets on the on-board terminal and confirm every stock move in the warehouse management system
- Wrap, label and weigh pallets before they ship
- Report damaged pallets, damaged racking, quantity discrepancies and truck defects
- Switch between truck types by zone: counterbalance at the dock, reach truck in narrow aisles, walkie stacker or order picker at height
Requirements, cards and certifications
- Forklift training that meets section 256.3 of the Règlement sur la santé et la sécurité du travail, Quebec's health and safety regulation: truck fundamentals, the work environment, operating the truck, and safety rules
- Hands-on training supervised by an instructor: starting, travelling and stopping, and handling loads
- Authorization from the employer — only trained and authorized people may operate a forklift on site
- Training on the specific truck type you will drive (counterbalance, reach, stacker, order picker) and on the environment it runs in
- Minimum age of sixteen to operate a forklift, set by section 256.2 of the same regulation
- Refresher training at least every three years, which the CNESST (Quebec's workplace health and safety board) ties to the CSA B335 standard
- WHMIS training (SIMDUT in French) as soon as the warehouse receives or stores hazardous materials
- Comfort with a scanner, an on-board terminal and rack location codes
Training
No diploma is required to become a forklift operator in Quebec — the training under section 256.3 of the Règlement sur la santé et la sécurité du travail is. It covers forklift fundamentals, the work environment and how it affects operating the truck, operating the truck itself, and the safety rules, then closes with hands-on training supervised by an instructor. At the École des métiers de l'équipement motorisé de Montréal, a trade school of the Centre de services scolaire de Montréal, the full course runs eight hours — four of theory and four of practice — and the refresher one hour; the certificate issued is the ASFETM one and is valid for three years. Plenty of employers deliver the same training in-house, on their own trucks. For operators who later want to move off the truck and into coordination, Inforoute FPT lists AEC programs in logistique du transport at several colleges in the region, plus the DEC Gestion des opérations et de la chaîne logistique (410.A1).
Career path
Experienced operators often become shift leads, then warehouse supervisors. Others move sideways into shipping and receiving, cycle counting, or a warehouse clerk role with less driving and more system work. An operator who masters every truck type on site usually ends up as the in-house trainer, running the hands-on portion the regulation requires for new hires. Logistics coordination and production planning generally call for a college diploma.
Frequently asked questions
What does a forklift operator do?
A forklift operator drives a lift truck to load, unload, stack and move pallets in a warehouse, distribution centre or plant. They inspect the truck before every shift, stay within its rated capacity, respect the traffic lanes, and confirm each stock move on the on-board terminal. Driving fills most of the shift, but not all of it: the rest goes to wrapping, labelling and counting.
How much does a forklift operator make in Quebec?
The table above gives the Quebec median and the median for each Greater Montreal region, drawn from Job Bank data. It covers NOC 75101, and the note under the table spells out what that occupation pools together. Where a region has no figure of its own, the cell stays empty rather than repeating the provincial median.
What drives a forklift operator's pay up or down?
Region, shift and truck type, in that order. A dock operator, a narrow-aisle reach truck operator and a cold-storage operator do not sit at the same point on the scale. The table above shows the low, the median and the high end for the occupation as a whole.
How much does a forklift operator make in Canada?
This page's table covers Quebec and the Greater Montreal regions, not Canada as a whole. Job Bank publishes a national profile for the same occupation, and the gaps between provinces are real: warehouse labour does not cost the same in Quebec, Ontario and Alberta. For a job in Montreal, the Montreal row is the one that matters.
Do you need a forklift licence in Quebec?
You need the training; the card is the certificate your trainer hands you afterwards. It is not a government licence the way a SAAQ driver's licence is — no ministry issues forklift cards. That is why a card from a previous employer does not settle everything: the training has to cover the workplace you will be in and the truck type you will be driving.
Is forklift training required by law in Quebec?
Yes. Section 256.3 of the Règlement sur la santé et la sécurité du travail states that a forklift may only be used by an operator who has received training on truck fundamentals, the work environment, operating the truck and safety rules, plus hands-on training supervised by an instructor. That training must also cover the site's specific conditions and the truck type the operator will drive.
How long does forklift training take?
At the École des métiers de l'équipement motorisé de Montréal, the full course is eight hours — four of theory, four behind the controls — and a refresher is one hour. The certificate issued there comes from the ASFETM and is valid for three years. Operators with no driving experience at all need a supervised practice period on top of the course.
Can you become a forklift operator with no experience?
Yes, provided you take the training before you get on the truck. Beginner courses add a supervised practice period, because the hands-on portion assumes some seat time already. Many warehouses hire first as a material handler or order picker, then train in-house when a truck opens up.
Do forklift operators work night shifts?
Often. Distribution centres around Montreal run several shifts: days for receiving, evenings for shipping, nights to replenish the pick locations. At night the crew is smaller and the operator works with less supervision. Shift availability is worth settling before the interview rather than once an offer is on the table.
What is the difference between a forklift operator and a material handler?
The operator drives; the material handler moves goods by hand or with a manual pallet jack. Both sit in the same occupational group, NOC 75101, and cross paths in the same warehouse, sometimes on the same day. The difference that decides hiring is training: without forklift training and the employer's authorization, nobody gets on a lift truck.
Which forklift types do Montreal warehouses use?
Counterbalance trucks at the docks, often propane; electric reach trucks in narrow aisles; walkie stackers and electric pallet jacks for short moves; order pickers where staff pick cases at height. Employers here usually ask for the specific type, because the regulation requires the training to cover the truck you will actually drive.
Where are the warehouse jobs around Montreal?
In the industrial parks and warehouse districts: Anjou and Saint-Laurent in Montreal, Lachine and Dorval near the airport, Laval to the north, Longueuil and Boucherville on the South Shore, Vaudreuil-Dorion to the west. Job Bank splits Greater Montreal into regions, and the table above follows that split. This page describes the occupation; it does not advertise an open role.
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