Distracted Driving Laws in Canada: Fines, Demerit Points, and Novice Driver Rules by Province

Every Canadian province and territory bans hand-held or non-hands-free electronic device use while driving, but the statute, the fine, the demerit-point value, and the novice-driver rule are set separately by each jurisdiction and vary widely: a first offence costs $237.50 out of court in Nova Scotia but carries a fine of $500 to $1,200 in Prince Edward Island, and Nunavut's demerit regulation as published attaches no points to the offence at all.

Information last verified on 2026-09-24. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article compares distracted driving, meaning hand-held or restricted electronic device use while driving, across all 13 Canadian provinces and territories under each jurisdiction's own highway traffic or motor vehicle legislation. Ontario has its own dedicated statute and a distinct three-tier fine and suspension structure; see Distracted Driving Laws in Ontario for the full detail. This article does not cover automated traffic enforcement or speeding; for those, see Photo Radar and Red Light Cameras in Canada and Speeding Tickets in Ontario.

Distracted Driving Law Is Provincial, Not Federal

Canada has no single federal distracted driving law. Each province and territory sets its own prohibition, usually inside its highway traffic act or motor vehicle act, its own fine schedule, and its own demerit-point or points-equivalent regulation. The shared shape across all 13 is a ban on holding or using a hand-held communication or entertainment device while driving, an exception for hands-free use in most jurisdictions, and a fine plus some form of points or licence consequence. The differences inside that shape are large enough that a rule learned in one province cannot be assumed to hold in another.

Comparison Table: Fines, Points, and Novice Rules by Jurisdiction

The Set Fine Is Often Lower Than the Statutory Maximum

A figure printed in a statute is frequently the ceiling a court could impose, not the amount actually charged on an uncontested ticket. Ontario is the clearest example: HTA s.78.1(6.1) sets a range of $500 to $3,000 depending on prior convictions, but the set fine under Schedule 43 is $500, and the total payable out of court is $615 once the victim surcharge and court fee are added. Saskatchewan's $500/$1,000/$1,500 figures are also statutory maximums under s.241.1(2.1), and the actual amount charged on a routine ticket there was not confirmed against a government source for this article. New Brunswick's $340.50 figure is the one actual number available; the Motor Vehicle Act itself sets no dollar amount and instead doubles a minimum fine set elsewhere. When only a statutory range or a general offence ceiling is available, as with Nunavut's $5,000 figure, that number should be read as a maximum, not a typical result.

Novice and Graduated Licence Rules Are Not Uniform

British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Yukon each remove the hands-free exception entirely for new or graduated-licence drivers, so a Class 7 or 7L driver in British Columbia, a Saskatchewan GDL driver, or a Yukon GDL driver can be ticketed for hands-free device use that would be legal for an experienced driver in the same province. Prince Edward Island takes a different approach: its GDL regulation bans a wider range of devices for Stage 1 and newly licensed drivers, including headphones and media players, but apart from headphones it does not expressly reach hands-free use. Ontario removes demerit points for novice drivers but replaces them with longer, escalating suspensions instead of a fine change. Alberta, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and the Northwest Territories showed no confirmed device-specific novice rule in the primary sources reviewed, MPI's graduated licensing conditions list no device-specific rule for Manitoba novices, and Newfoundland and Labrador's status could not be confirmed either way because the relevant regulations were not checked. A gap in the record is not the same as a confirmed absence of a rule, and this article treats the two differently in the table above.

Currency Watch: Laws in Transition

Two provinces are mid-transition to a new traffic statute. Nova Scotia's Legislature passed a new Traffic Safety Act in October 2025, but the Government of Nova Scotia's own page states the current Motor Vehicle Act still governs until the new act is proclaimed, expected sometime in 2026. Yukon assented to its own Traffic Safety Act in October 2024; its commencement clause leaves nearly the entire act to come into force on a day still to be fixed, so the Motor Vehicles Act remains current law there as well. Ontario's Highway Traffic Act carries a not-yet-in-force amendment that will add a harsher, separate penalty track for distracted driving in a commercial motor vehicle; it has no proclamation date and does not change the figures in the table above. Nunavut's available consolidation of its traffic statute is dated current to December 2019. None of the five Acts that have amended it since then touches section 239.1, but a 2021 amendment (S.Nu. 2021, c.10) added a power to make regulations respecting a demerit point system, so a future regulation could attach points to the offence. A reader relying on this article for a jurisdiction flagged here should confirm the law is still in the state described before treating any figure as final.

Disclaimer: This article provides general information about distracted driving penalties under each Canadian province's and territory's highway traffic or motor vehicle legislation, current as of September 2026. It is not legal advice. Several figures noted above depend on sources this article could not independently confirm, including some actual ticket amounts and some novice-driver rules; those gaps are flagged rather than filled with an assumed figure. Two provinces have a new traffic act pending that is not yet in force. Consult the relevant provincial transportation ministry, licensing authority, or a lawyer licensed in your province for advice on your specific situation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does every Canadian province and territory ban hand-held phone use while driving?

Yes. All 13 provinces and territories prohibit holding or using a hand-held communication device while driving under their own highway traffic or motor vehicle legislation, though the exact device definition, fine, and consequence differ by jurisdiction.

Which provinces have zero tolerance for new or graduated-licence drivers?

British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and Yukon each remove the hands-free exception entirely for new or GDL drivers by the plain text of their statutes, so even hands-free use can result in a ticket for a driver in those licence classes. Other jurisdictions did not show a confirmed device-specific novice rule in the sources reviewed for this article.

Is the fine listed in the statute the amount I would actually pay?

Not always. Several provinces set a statutory range as the maximum a court could impose, while the actual out-of-court set fine is a separate, often lower, fixed figure. Ontario's statutory range is $500 to $3,000, but an uncontested ticket costs a flat $615 out of court, made up of a $500 set fine plus the victim surcharge and court fee.

Is Manitoba's penalty really demerit points?

Manitoba Public Insurance's own materials describe the consequence as moving 5 levels down its Driver Safety Rating scale, a different mechanism from a traditional demerit-point tally, even though one MPI page uses demerit-point language informally.

Are any provincial distracted driving laws about to change?

Nova Scotia and Yukon have each passed a full replacement traffic act that had not come into force as of this article's verification date; both provinces' current law remains their existing Motor Vehicle Act or Motor Vehicles Act until the new act is proclaimed. Confirm the current status before relying on either province's rule.

Why does Nunavut show no demerit points for this offence?

Nunavut's demerit-point regulation predates its 2017 hand-held device offence and has not been updated to include it, so as consolidated, no demerit points currently attach to a conviction. This reflects a gap in the regulation, not a deliberate lenient policy.