Affiliate Disclosure

How The Canada Report handles affiliate links — clearly labelled, editorially independent, and disclosed in line with Canadian Competition Bureau and FTC guidance.

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TL;DR

Some links on The Canada Report are affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, we may earn a small commission — at no extra cost to you. These commissions never influence what we cover or how we cover it.

At The Canada Report, our priority is editorial independence and reader trust. Affiliate links help support the site, but they do not determine our reporting, recommendations, or conclusions.

This disclosure works alongside our Editorial Guidelines, Editorial Methodology, and Corrections Policy — together these documents describe how The Canada Report operates.

From time to time we include clearly labelled affiliate links in certain articles — most commonly within our Canadian Guides and buying-related explainers.

If you click an affiliate link and make a purchase:

  • You pay the same price
  • We may earn a small commission
  • There is no impact on our coverage or conclusions

We identify affiliate links in a few consistent ways, so you always know what you're clicking:

  • Prominent disclosure boxes — Articles containing affiliate links include a disclosure box near the top and/or bottom of the article, making the relationship clear before you click anything.
  • HTML signalling — Affiliate links are tagged with the rel="sponsored" attribute, which tells both browsers and search engines that the link is a paid relationship. This is the industry standard recommended by Google and mandated by major affiliate programs.
  • Clear context — Where we recommend a specific product or service, we explain why, what alternatives exist, and where the link goes.

If a link on our site isn't flagged with one of the above, it isn't an affiliate link.

Our Affiliate Policy

We follow a simple set of rules:

  • Editorial independence comes first. We never publish, suppress, or modify content to satisfy advertisers or affiliate partners.
  • Clear labelling. Any article or section containing affiliate links is clearly disclosed.
  • Reader-first recommendations. We only include affiliate links when we believe they are genuinely useful. If an option isn't in your interest, we won't recommend it — affiliate or not.
  • Not everything is monetised. Many articles contain no affiliate links at all. We don't force monetisation where it doesn't make sense.
  • No affiliate links in news coverage. Daily News, Deep Dives, and Government Files do not contain affiliate links. Affiliate relationships are limited to practical, buying-related content.

Affiliate Programs We Participate In

Where applicable, we participate in the following affiliate programs:

  • Amazon Associates — the most common source of affiliate revenue on the site, used primarily in our Canadian Guides. As required by Amazon, we include the standard disclosure: "As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases."
  • Retail and service affiliate networks — including programs run through Rakuten, Impact, and similar networks, where we partner with specific Canadian retailers or service providers.

We only join programs that align with content we would publish anyway. We don't build guides around affiliate opportunities; we look for affiliate opportunities within guides we'd publish regardless.

Where Affiliate Revenue Goes

The Canada Report is independently owned and reader-supported. Affiliate commissions help fund:

  • Hosting, domain, and infrastructure costs
  • Editorial tools and software
  • Access to Information and Freedom of Information request fees
  • Research time and ongoing coverage

We don't run programmatic ads, pop-ups, auto-play video, or data-harvesting ad networks — which is unusual for news sites. Commercial relationships are limited to affiliate partnerships and occasional clearly labelled sponsorships, both disclosed and editorially reviewed. Affiliate commissions, sponsor partnerships, and voluntary reader support are how we keep the site clean and independent.

Canadian Regulatory Context

Affiliate and sponsored content in Canada is governed by the Competition Act's provisions on misleading advertising, administered by the Competition Bureau of Canada. Under these provisions, any material connection between a publisher and a product or service (including affiliate relationships) must be clearly and prominently disclosed to consumers.

We aim to meet or exceed these disclosure standards. Where we publish to a U.S. audience (or where a U.S. retailer's program applies), we also follow the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Endorsement Guides, which set similar disclosure requirements.

Questions or Concerns?

If you have questions about our affiliate relationships or how recommendations are chosen, contact us anytime at info@thecanadareport.ca.

Transparency matters. We're happy to explain how things work — including which specific programs funded which specific guides.

This affiliate disclosure was last reviewed on 16 April 2026. We update it as our affiliate relationships evolve.