Most website advice is written for the US. Canadian businesses share most of it, plus a few rules of their own about privacy, email marketing and language. None of them are hard to meet once you know they exist.
Privacy: PIPEDA and provincial laws
The federal Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA) sets the baseline for how private businesses collect, use and disclose personal information. Alberta, British Columbia and Quebec have their own private-sector privacy laws. For a website, that means:
- A plain-language privacy policy that says what you collect (form entries, analytics, cookies), why, who you share it with, where it is stored and how people can access or correct it.
- Collecting only what you need on forms.
- A named contact for privacy questions.
Quebec’s Law 25
If you collect personal information from people in Quebec, Law 25 adds obligations, including naming a person responsible for personal information, publishing a privacy policy in clear terms, and, for technology that tracks, profiles or locates people, informing them and offering a way to switch those functions off. Many businesses respond with a cookie banner that lets visitors refuse non-essential tracking.
Email marketing: CASL
Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL) applies to commercial electronic messages. On a website, the practical rules are:
- Use a separate, unticked checkbox if a form adds people to a newsletter or marketing list. Pre-ticked boxes do not count as express consent.
- Say who is asking for consent and how to contact you.
- Every marketing email needs a working unsubscribe link, honoured promptly.
- Keep a record of when and how each person consented.
Language
If you do business in Quebec, the Charter of the French Language generally requires commercial websites to be available in French, with French at least as prominent as other languages. Outside Quebec, a French version is optional but useful in Ottawa, parts of New Brunswick and Manitoba’s francophone communities.
Accessibility
Ontario’s AODA requires many larger organisations to meet WCAG 2.0 level AA on public websites, and other provinces are developing standards. Even where not required, accessibility widens your market. See our accessibility basics.
Prices, taxes and local details
- State the currency clearly (CAD or USD) wherever you show a price.
- Mention whether GST/HST or provincial sales tax is extra.
- Show your province and the areas you serve, with your local time zone for bookings.
- Use Canadian spelling if your audience expects it.
This article is general information, not legal advice. For a business with significant data collection or operations in Quebec, have a lawyer review your privacy policy and consent flows.
We build websites for businesses across Canada on the same terms as the US: US$1,950 a year with hosting, SEO and unlimited updates, $49 to start. See our Canadian web design page, or the city pages for Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary.