APEGA (Association of Proffesional Engineers and Geoscientists of Alberta) which all engineers/geoscientists are members of post a salary survery every year. Its pretty detailed breaking salaries based on experience and accountabilities.
http://www.apega.ca/members/Publicat...arysurvey.html
In general when you graduate you become an E.I.T. (Engineer in Training), and it literally means that. What you learn in school is a good background into the theory of engineering, but doesnt give you the skill set to sit down at a desk and do a job. What you do post school during your E.I.T. years is the actual real world skills you will learn. The degree you get (mechanical, civil etc) will strongly help you get a job in a certain field but its the learnings on the job that will control your skill set. For this reason summer jobs/internships can be important as you can learn what a "real" engineer job does day to day as well as make connections.