Shape how the public sees a company, a charity or a politician. Writing under pressure, every day.
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Pay, the path, pros and cons and the facts on one printable page. Good for a wall or a guidance counsellor.
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What you earn and what it costs to get there.
Typical
$74,000
Coordinator
$43,000
Director
$119,000
Job Bank's national median is $35.58 an hour, about $74,000 a year full time. Government and big corporate communications teams pay at the top. Small agencies and charities pay at the bottom.
$43,000 to $52,000
Communications or account coordinator
Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver have the most jobs. Federal government communications jobs start higher than agencies and come with a pension.
$100,000 to $119,000
Director of communications after 10 or more years
A vice-president of communications at a big company or a partner at a large agency can earn well past this range.
Tuition, fees, exams and kit. Not rent, food or travel
The low end is a two year college diploma at about $4,000 a year, which is a normal way into agency and in house communications work. The high end is a four year university degree at up to $10,000 a year, sometimes with a one year graduate certificate stacked on top. Student membership in CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society) is under $100 a year and the accreditation exam later in your career is a few hundred dollars. Unpaid or low paid internships are common at the start, so budget for a few months of thin income that these numbers do not include.
Unpaid or low-paid internships are common at the start. Budget for a few months of that.
Government pension
Federal and provincial communications jobs are unionized with defined-benefit pensions.
Health and dental
Standard at corporate and government employers. Rare when freelancing.
Remote and hybrid work
Most of the job is writing and calls, so working from home is common.
Freelance side income
Many PR (public relations) people take on extra clients for press releases and campaigns.
The exact path from high school to qualified.
A degree or diploma in communications, then internships, then a job you grow into.
High school
Grades 11 and 12
English marks matter most. Join the school paper, yearbook or student council.
Post-secondary
2 to 4 years
A 4-year degree in public relations, communications or journalism, or a 2-year college diploma. Many take any degree and then a 1-year graduate certificate in PR (public relations).
Internships and volunteering
During school
Write for a charity, run social media for a club, help a campaign. Employers hire on writing samples.
Coordinator job
1 to 3 years
Drafting releases, building media lists, monitoring coverage. Expect 1 to 3 years here.
Specialist and beyond
Ongoing
Own accounts or a company's messaging. Some later earn the APR (Accredited in Public Relations) mark from CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society).
English and writing
The whole job is words. Clear, fast, correct.
Media studies
How news gets made and why.
Business or marketing
You will work for business goals.
Drama or public speaking
You will pitch, present and sometimes stand in front of cameras.
Anyone can call themselves a public relations specialist. There is no licence. The CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society) runs a voluntary APR (Accredited in Public Relations) program for experienced members, and the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators) has its own certification. Employers notice these but almost never require them. Your portfolio and references matter more.
Nova Scotia
Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax offers a Bachelor of Public Relations with co-op.
Ontario
Seneca, Humber and Centennial run 1-year graduate certificates. Toronto Metropolitan University and Carleton offer communications degrees.
Quebec
Concordia and Université de Montréal, in English and French.
West
Mount Royal University in Calgary has a public relations degree. Kwantlen and BCIT (British Columbia Institute of Technology) run diplomas.
Things you don't need, but that help.
Crisis communications
Handling a scandal, a recall or a lawsuit. The highest-paid corner of the field.
Investor relations
Talking to shareholders and analysts for public companies. Needs some finance knowledge and pays very well.
French
Federal government and national brands need bilingual communicators.
Data and analytics
Proving that a campaign moved the numbers, not just got coverage.
APR (Accredited in Public Relations)
From CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society). Needs about 5 years of experience, a written and an oral exam.
A portfolio site
Releases, articles, campaign results. Even class projects count at the start.
Student membership in CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society)
Cheap, and the events are where junior jobs get filled.
Many PR (public relations) people spend a few years as press secretaries or communications staff for politicians. The hours are brutal and the jobs vanish after an election, but the contacts and the crisis experience open doors at agencies and big companies afterward.
Day to day, pros and cons, where you'd work.
Morning scan of the news for anything about your client or company. Then writing: a press release, a speech, a statement, a post. Calls with reporters to pitch a story or answer a question. A planning meeting for a launch or event. When something goes wrong, the day stops and you are drafting a response within the hour. Agencies juggle several clients at once. In-house teams go deep on one organization.
The good
The hard parts
Things people don't tell you.
The CPRS (Canadian Public Relations Society) was founded in 1948, before TV broadcasting started in Canada in 1952. It has local societies across the country and welcomes students as members.
The federal government is one of the largest employers of communications staff in the country. Every department, agency and minister's office has people writing and answering media questions.
Newsrooms in Canada have shrunk for two decades while communications teams have grown. Many PR (public relations) specialists are former journalists who moved across for better pay and more stable hours.
Last checked September 2026. Pay figures are typical full-time annual amounts in Canadian dollars, based on Government of Canada Job Bank wage data and published salary grids. They vary by province, employer and experience. Tuition is for domestic students.