Contractor ad rules in Canada
Google and Meta enforce the same ad policies in Canada as in the United States. The layer on top is Canadian law: the Competition Act, enforced by the Competition Bureau, plus provincial licensing rules and Quebec’s language law. These are the rules that actually differ, and the ones the free ad audit checks when you pick Canada as the policy region.
1. Drip pricing: the headline price must be attainable
Since June 2022, the Competition Act deems a price that is not attainable because of fixed obligatory charges or fees to be a false or misleading representation (s. 74.01(1.1)). The only amounts allowed outside the advertised price are government-imposed ones, such as sales tax.
For home services this is the big one. “$49 drain cleaning” with a mandatory dispatch fee, service fee or fuel surcharge added at the door is the textbook case, and the Bureau is actively enforcing: it won a roughly $39 million case against Cineplex over a booking fee, and has since sued DoorDash and Canada’s Wonderland over mandatory fees. A court has carved out fees that are disclosed up front beside the price, which is the safe way to write it: one attainable price, or every mandatory fee shown next to it.
2. Performance claims need a proper test behind them
A claim about a product’s performance, efficacy or length of life must be based on an adequate and proper test, and the proof sits with the advertiser (s. 74.01(1)(b)). The test has to exist before the claim runs; a testimonial or a supplier brochure is not a test. “Kills 99.9% of bacteria,” “cuts energy use by 40%” — figures like these need test data you can produce on request.
Environmental claims got their own teeth in 2024: a product’s environmental benefits need an adequate and proper test (s. 74.01(1)(b.1)), and claims about the business itself need adequate and proper substantiation under an internationally recognized methodology (s. 74.01(1)(b.2)). A blanket “eco-friendly” names neither a benefit nor a basis.
3. “Was” prices must be genuine selling prices
Reference pricing is tested against reality. Under the ordinary selling price rules (s. 74.01(2)–(3)), a price can only be called the regular or ordinary price if the product was actually sold at it for a substantial period, or offered in good faith — the Act applies time and volume tests. An inflated “was $999, now $499” makes the deal itself the misrepresentation, and a percentage off is only as honest as the reference price behind it.
4. Testimonials must be genuine, authorized and checkable
Publishing a testimonial that is untrue, misleading or unauthorized is prohibited (s. 74.02). In practice: use real customers, keep what they actually said, and name the source. “Our customers love us — 5 stars!” with no platform named cannot be checked against anything; “4.9 stars on HomeStars, October 2026” can.
Licence numbers are provincial — and Quebec is strict
Trade licensing in Canada is provincial, so the display rules vary. The clearest one: in Quebec, a contractor’s RBQ licence number (Régie du bâtiment du Québec, 10 digits shown as XXXX-XXXX-XX) must appear on all advertising, including websites and social media, plus estimates, contracts and invoices. The Canada audit recognizes the RBQ format. That is a format check only — no tool can confirm from ad copy that a licence is valid or in good standing.
Selling in Quebec? The ad has to speak French
Quebec’s Charter of the French Language requires commercial advertising to be in French, or bilingual with the French given at least equal prominence; on public signage, French must be markedly predominant. An English-only campaign aimed at Quebec fails before anyone reads the offer. If you run a French version, paste that version into the checker — it reads the words you give it, and it does not translate.
Check your ad before it runs
Open the Ad Audit, pick Canada under Policy region, and paste the ad. The engine checks the platform rules plus the four Competition Act families above and the RBQ format, and quotes the exact words behind every flag with the rule they break. Already rejected? The Rejected Ad Fix has the same Canada option. Both are free for a single ad, no account needed.
Sources: Competition Bureau Canada, Misleading representations and deceptive marketing practices; Competition Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. C-34, s. 74.01–74.05 (Justice Laws); Régie du bâtiment du Québec, Displaying your licence. This page is a plain-language summary, not legal advice.