Editorial standards for HVAC content in Canada

Standard 1: Date every program, rebate and price

Every mention of a program, rebate or price carries a date, a link to the administrator and a line asking readers to confirm. Programs change faster than websites.

The last few years show why. As of October 2026:

• The federal government announced a national heat pump rebate on 2026-10-08, with federal pages describing up to $10,000 for below-median-income households and $2,000 for other eligible homeowners. It had not opened, and launch was described as 2027.
• The Canada Greener Homes Grant and Loan, which many older HVAC pages still mention, are closed to new applicants.
• Provincial programs, such as rebates through Ontario's Save on Energy or Quebec's LogisVert, have their own rules and caps that change over time.

How we write it:

"Ottawa announced a national heat pump rebate in October 2026, with a launch described for 2027. No administrator has finalised the amounts or eligibility yet, so please check the official page before you rely on it."

How we don't write it: "Get $10,000 off your new heat pump!"

The undated version is the one that becomes misleading when a program changes. Our editorial planning service includes a program watch that flags pages for update.

Standard 2: Back every efficiency and environmental claim

Environmental and efficiency claims must be specific and supportable, or they come out. The Competition Bureau says the Competition Act prohibits false or misleading representations, including unsubstantiated environmental claims, and it issued environmental-claims guidelines in June 2025. As of October 2026, a 2026 amendment changed one part of the environmental-claims provisions, but the general rules against misleading advertising still apply, and the Bureau has said it will update its guidance.

In practice:

Standard 3: Price claims must be complete

If a page or video shows a price, it shows the whole price the customer must pay. The Competition Act's rules on misleading advertising also reach drip pricing: showing a price that leaves out mandatory fixed fees. If a quote always includes a permit fee or a disposal fee, an advertised "from" price should not quietly leave it out.

Standard 4: Respect language rules

Language rules affect HVAC content in two parts of Canada in particular:

• Quebec. The OQLF explains that, since Bill 96 amended the Charter of the French Language, commercial advertising and public signs must give French clear predominance, and Quebec-facing websites and social accounts need French versions. English or other languages can sit alongside.
• Nunavut. Nunavut's Inuit Language Protection Act puts Inuktut on an equal or greater footing in a business's public signs, posters and commercial advertising, and it expects customer service to be available in Inuktut too. Campaigns and key pages for Nunavut buyers need planning with that in mind.

New Brunswick is officially bilingual for provincial government services, though private businesses aren't required to be bilingual. Many HVAC companies there still benefit from French content. The areas page covers each region.

Standard 5: Consent before sending

Content sent by email or text to past customers is a commercial electronic message. The CRTC's CASL guidance explains that such messages need the recipient's consent, identification of the sender and a working way to opt out, and that senders must be able to prove consent.

Our rule: before any content goes to a customer list, the client confirms how consent was obtained and where it is recorded. If that can't be shown, the content goes on the website and social channels only.

Standard 6: Privacy on the job site

Footage and photos taken in someone's home involve their privacy. Most of Canada falls under PIPEDA for information gathered in commercial activity, while Alberta, BC and Quebec run their own comparable private-sector privacy laws.

Our working standard, explained in the job-site video guide:

• ask before filming or photographing, every time, and note the answer
• never show faces, house numbers, plates or documents without explicit consent
• blur anything doubtful, and delete footage you didn't have permission to take

Standard 7: Licences and regulators are linked, not interpreted

Content should mention licences accurately and link the regulator. It should never interpret the rules. Some provinces limit who may even advertise certain work. In Ontario, for example, electrical work for others needs a contractor licensed by the Electrical Safety Authority, and only licensed contractors may bid on or advertise that work.

So our content:

• names your licences only as they appear on your certificates
• links Technical Safety BC, TSSA, the RBQ or the relevant regulator when a topic touches safety or licensing
• tells homeowners to call a licensed professional for gas, refrigerant and electrical work
• never offers homeowners how-to steps for work that requires a licence

Standard 8: No invented proof

The final standard is the simplest. No invented reviews, quotes, customer stories, star ratings or before-and-after images. If a homeowner agrees to share their experience on camera, we record the consent and publish their own words. If they don't, we tell the story through the work itself: photos, footage and plain explanation.

A pre-publish checklist

Before anything goes live:

1. Is every program, rebate and price dated and linked?
2. Can every efficiency or environmental claim be backed by a document?
3. Does any advertised price include mandatory fees?
4. Is French or Inuktut content needed for this audience?
5. If it is being sent to a list, is consent recorded?
6. Was consent given for every person and home shown?
7. Are licences named accurately and regulators linked?
8. Is every piece of proof real and verifiable?

We run this checklist on everything we publish through our services. The other guides cover the blog engine and job-site video.