The Canada Pension Plan is the public pension that almost every employee in Canada outside Quebec pays into from each paycheque. You and your employer pay the same amount, and the earnings you contribute on over your working life set the retirement, disability and survivor pensions the plan later pays you.
The contribution is worked out on a band of earnings, not on the whole salary. For 2026 the Canada Revenue Agency sets the employee rate at 5.95% of earnings between a $3,500 basic exemption and maximum pensionable earnings of $74,600. On a $60,000 salary that is 5.95% of $56,500, or $3,361.75. The most anyone pays is 5.95% of $71,100, which is $4,230.45. A second tier, CPP2, then takes 4% of earnings between $74,600 and a second ceiling of $85,000, according to Canada.ca, so it can add at most $416. Nothing is charged above $85,000.
Quebec has its own plan with the same ceilings. Retraite Québec charges 5.3% for the base plan plus 1% for the first additional contribution, 6.3% in all, with the same 4% on the band up to $85,000. Quebec employees also pay a lower Employment Insurance premium, because the province runs its own parental insurance plan.
For most employees CPP is compulsory, and it is separate from any workplace pension or RRSP you choose to pay into. The take-home pay calculator shows CPP and CPP2 as separate lines, or QPP and QPP2 when you pick Quebec, puts your employer's matching share in the cost to employer, and has a switch for people who are exempt.