CASL and B2B cold email in Canada: what trades firms need to know

Most trades firms that sell to buildings rely on email to reach property managers, condo boards and facilities staff. In Canada, that email is covered by Canada's Anti-Spam Legislation, known as CASL. The law is not hard to follow once you know its three parts. This guide explains them in plain terms and ends with a checklist you can use this week.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm how CASL applies to your firm with your counsel.

Is cold email legal in Canada?

Yes, in many B2B cases, but not the way "cold email" is often done elsewhere. CASL does not allow you to email anyone you like until they tell you to stop. Before you send a commercial message, you need a consent basis. For B2B email, that basis is often implied consent from a business email address the person or their employer published. Without one, you should not send.

What CASL covers

CASL applies to commercial electronic messages, often shortened to CEMs. In plain terms, that is an email or other electronic message whose purpose is to encourage someone to buy from you or do business with you. An email offering a garage restoration quote, a maintenance contract or a site visit is a CEM. So is a follow-up to it.

The three things every commercial message needs

1. Consent. Express or implied, as explained below.
2. Identification. Who is sending the message, and on whose behalf, with contact details the person can use to reach you.
3. An unsubscribe mechanism. A simple, working way for the person to say "stop".

Miss any one of the three and the message does not comply, even if the other two are perfect.

Express and implied consent

Express consent is a clear yes: the person agreed to receive your messages, for example by ticking a box on your website or signing up in writing. It lasts until they withdraw it.

Implied consent comes from the situation, not from a yes. Two kinds matter most for trades firms.

An existing business relationship

If someone bought from you, you have implied consent for two years after the purchase. If they have a contract with you, it lasts while the contract is in force and for two years after it ends. If they made an inquiry, such as asking for a quote, you have implied consent for six months after the inquiry. After that the clock runs out, unless they have since given express consent or the relationship has been renewed.

Conspicuous publication

This is the one most B2B prospecting depends on. You have implied consent when all of these are true:

• The person, or their employer, published their business email address conspicuously, for example on the management firm's "Our team" page.
• The publication does not include a statement that they do not want unsolicited commercial messages.
• Your message relates to their business role or duties.

The last point is where firms slip. A property manager listed on their firm's website can reasonably be emailed about a garage restoration or a pool maintenance contract at a building they manage. The same address does not give you a basis to pitch them something unrelated to that job. A similar rule applies when someone gives you their business email directly, say on a business card, without saying they do not want messages: you may send messages that relate to their role.

Consent basis	Where it comes from	How long it lasts
Express	The person clearly agreed to receive messages	Until they withdraw it
Implied: past purchase or contract	They bought from you or contracted with you	Two years after a purchase, or while a contract is in force and two years after it ends
Implied: inquiry	They asked you about your services	Six months after the inquiry
Implied: conspicuous publication	Business email published with no "no unsolicited messages" statement	While those conditions hold; messages must relate to their role

Unsubscribes: ten business days

When someone asks you to stop, you must honour it without delay, and no later than 10 business days. In practice, do it the same day. Remove them everywhere: your email tool, your CRM, any spreadsheet a salesperson keeps on the side. A second message after someone asked to stop is the kind of thing that turns into a complaint.

Read what the request is about. A property manager who writes "this building has no pool" is telling you about one building. A person who writes "do not contact me" is telling you about themselves. Record the difference, and when in doubt, stop.

Penalties

CASL is enforced by the CRTC. Administrative monetary penalties can reach up to $10 million per violation for businesses. Most trades firms will never come near that, but the risk is real enough that a careless list is not worth it. The quieter cost is reputation: property managers talk to each other, and a firm known for spam is a firm that does not get called back.

Keep records

If your consent is ever questioned, it is the sender who has to show it. So for every contact, record where their details came from (the web page, the inquiry, the past contract), the date, and which consent basis applies. Keep every message you send and every opt-out you receive. Good records are also what lets someone on your team pick up a conversation with full context.

A practical checklist for a trades firm

1. For each contact, write down the source of their email address and the date you found it.
2. Note the consent basis: express, past customer (two years after the purchase or the end of the contract), inquiry (six months) or conspicuous publication.
3. For published addresses, check the page for a "no unsolicited email" statement before you send.
4. Keep each message about the person's role: their buildings, their work, their responsibilities.
5. Put your name, your firm and your contact details in every message.
6. Include a plain way to opt out in every message, including follow-ups.
7. Honour every opt-out the same day, everywhere, and well within 10 business days.
8. Track when past-customer and inquiry consent expire.
9. Keep copies of what you sent and when.
10. If you work in Quebec, write French first, then English.

For how this fits into the wider job of reaching managers and boards, see how to win work from property managers in Ontario.

Where PEIQ fits

PEIQ is a digital employee for business development, described in our guide What is an AI SDR? It is built with CASL in mind. Each contact carries the source of their details and the consent basis. Every message identifies the sender with contact details and an opt-out, and opt-outs are honoured at once. Every email and call waits for your approval, and every email, reply and call is logged. For Quebec, messages go French first, then English, and calls to Quebec numbers open in French. You can see how it works for your trade on our industries page or in a walkthrough.

This is general information, not legal advice. Confirm your own practices with your counsel.

Curious how many buildings in your area you could reach with a clear consent basis? Get your free territory report.