Pay Scale & Ratios

I had to make myself clear in my title since I confused people with the RPN. I wanted to find out what's the difference in pay between RN & RPN/LPN. What is the average starting salary for both? No place in particular, I'm just curious because I want to see the difference between Canadian nurses and US nurses.

Here in the Bay Area (California) a RN can start off between $42-$50 an hour, some places higher and some places lower. LVN's can start off between $23-$29 dollars an hour depending on where you're working. The lower end tend to be nurisng homes, and higher end tend to be the prison system. Since I'm ignorant in the exchange rate, I have no idea what that is in Canadian dollars, maybe someone can help me with the exchange rate.

Here in California we also have ratios in the hospitals. But unfortunately in the nurisng homes, there are no ratios and the residents there suffer because the care is inadequate due to the patient nurse ratio. Most of it is because the nurses don't have the time, we're considered pill pushers in the nurisng home. What's your system like there in the hospitals and nursing homes? Thanks