What Zome is

Zome is the growth platform for trades and home service businesses. Its site names ten of them: plumbing, heating and cooling, electrical, roofing, landscaping, cleaning, painting, pest control, garage doors and handyman work, and it says Zome works for most home services beyond those.

The problem it starts from is set out on its story page. Someone with a leaking pipe or a cold house picks up a phone and searches for help, and too often the best crew in town never gets the call. Not because the work is worse, but because nobody built that crew the tools that national brands, with their own marketers and engineers, take for granted.

Zome's answer is to give a small crew the same advantages. The site uses the example of a five-person crew and lists what it means: a website that books jobs, a Google presence that ranks, reviews that keep coming, and follow-up that brings customers back.

The four jobs it covers

Zome groups its tools into four parts. Its home page describes them as "Four teams of AI tools, built for service businesses and working together from the first search to the next booking."

Get found

The aim is to show up first wherever customers look. This part covers AI websites, local SEO, the Google Business Profile, a reviews engine and listings management, so the website, the Google profile, the reviews and the business details elsewhere work as one. Start at Get found.

Win the job

This part turns a search into a booked job. It covers online booking, instant price ranges given before the phone rings, a text back for every missed call, one inbox for every new request, an AI receptionist that answers calls, and proposals that give each customer three options. Start at Win the job.

Keep customers

This part runs after the job is done: email and text marketing that brings past customers back, maintenance plans, referral rewards, a customer portal with the business's own name on it, and job updates so customers know when the crew is coming. Start at Keep customers.

Run your business

The Zome app puts requests, reviews and results in one place, with reporting on where jobs come from and a plain-English summary every month. Scheduling and dispatch, payments and a field app are listed on the site as coming soon, so they are not part of Zome yet. Start at Run your business.

The free AI report

The easiest way to see what Zome looks at is its free AI report. It is free, needs no sign-up and takes about a minute: type the business name, and add the website and town for a sharper report.

The report checks public sources: the business's website and, when they are connected, its Google profile, its reviews and nearby businesses. Checks it could not run are shown as such rather than guessed. What comes back is a score with its coverage, the highest-priority findings and practical next steps, across four areas: getting found, getting booked, getting trusted, and who ranks above you. It reads public information only, and nothing is posted on the business's behalf. A sample report, labelled as an example, shows the format.

What it promises

Zome's Why Zome page opens with "No fake reviews. Just a better way to grow." It says Zome has no customer reviews yet and will not invent any, and it puts six promises in writing instead:

• Honest reporting. Every number in a report comes from real data; no invented results, rankings or reviews.
• You own your stuff. Website content, photos, domain and customer list belong to the business.
• Fair review requests. Every customer gets the same request, with no filtering out of unhappy customers and no paid or fake reviews.
• Your prices, your rules. Zome never changes a price without the owner.
• People you can reach. Founding partners work directly with the team building Zome.
• Earn it every month. If it is not working, Zome wants to hear it first.

Where Zome is today

Zome is onboarding founding partners in trades and home services and building alongside them. Its site says plainly that some features roll out in stages, and labels its photography as illustrative. A business that wants to help shape it early can apply as a founding partner through the demo page.

How to reach Zome

Zome's contact page gives two ways in, and the report above is a third:

• A free demo. A 20-minute call where the team runs your report with you and shows what it would fix first. Book it on the demo page.
• A message. Use the form on the contact page; a real person reads every message and replies by email, usually within one business day. Zome is also on Instagram as @zome.

For more about who writes ZELR, see the editor's page.

Drafted with AI assistance.

This note walks through it in order. Everything here comes from Canada Revenue Agency pages listed at the end, checked on 1 October 2026. It is general information for a sole proprietor or small business, not tax advice; an accountant can tell you how it applies to you.

When you have to register

You are a small supplier, and do not have to register, while your taxable sales stay at or under $30,000. For a sole proprietor the CRA counts revenue before expenses from all your taxable supplies worldwide, across all your businesses and those of your associates. It excludes financial services, sales of capital property and goodwill from the sale of a business.

There are two ways to cross the line, and they set different start dates:

• In a single calendar quarter. You must charge the GST/HST on the very sale that took you over $30,000. Your registration is effective no later than the day of that sale.
• Over four consecutive quarters, but not in any one quarter. You stop being a small supplier at the end of the month following the quarter in which you crossed it, and your registration is effective no later than your first sale after that.

Either way, you have 29 days from your effective date to register. Taxi and ride-sharing drivers are the main exception: they must register even if they are small suppliers.

You can also register voluntarily before you reach the threshold, if you make taxable supplies. The CRA sets out the trade: once registered, you must charge, collect and remit the tax and file returns, and you must stay registered for at least one year before you can cancel (unless you stop your business). In return, you can claim input tax credits on what you spend. If you do not register, you do not charge the tax and you cannot claim credits. You generally cannot register if you provide only exempt supplies.

How to register

Online, through Business Registration Online (BRO). The CRA calls this the fastest and easiest way. You need a CRA account to use it. If you do not already have a business number, you get one at the same time as your GST/HST account. Save or print your business number at the end, because the CRA says it will not be sent to you, and note that the session times out after 10 minutes of inactivity, so have your details ready before you start.

By mail, with Form RC1. If you cannot complete registration online, the CRA's instructions are to mail Form RC1, Request for a Business Number and Certain Program Accounts, to your tax centre.

What you get is a nine-digit business number (BN), with a GST/HST program account added to it. That account number is what goes on your invoices.

What changes after you register

1. You charge the right rate for the place of supply

The rate depends on where the supply is made, not where you are. In Ontario the HST is 13 per cent. The CRA's calculator lists the other rates: 15 per cent in New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island; 14 per cent in Nova Scotia; and the 5 per cent GST alone in Alberta, the three territories, and the provinces that run their own sales tax (British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Quebec), where provincial tax is separate. If you sell into other provinces, check the place-of-supply rules first.

2. Your invoices and receipts need more information

This works in both directions. To claim input tax credits, the CRA requires your supporting documents to carry more detail as the amount grows:

Your customers who are registrants will need the same from you. Put your GST/HST number on every invoice from your effective date.

3. You can claim input tax credits

An input tax credit (ITC) recovers the GST/HST you pay on purchases for your commercial activities. The time limit is generous but real: generally, an ITC must be claimed by the due date of the return for the last reporting period that ends within four years after the end of the period in which it first became available. New registrants can also claim credits on inventory and capital property they hold on the day they register.

4. You file on a schedule set by your sales

The CRA assigns a reporting period based on your annual taxable supplies:

You can ask for a more frequent period with Form GST20. Monthly and quarterly returns are due one month after the period ends. Annual returns are generally due three months after your fiscal year-end, with an exception for many sole proprietors: if your fiscal year ends on 31 December and you have business income, the return is due on June 15, but the payment is due on April 30. Electronic filing is mandatory for almost all registrants.

5. You may owe instalments

An annual filer whose net tax for the previous fiscal year was $3,000 or more may have to pay quarterly instalments, due within one month after the end of each fiscal quarter. Because the test looks at the previous year, it rarely applies in the first year after registering.

6. You file even when there is nothing to report

A registrant must file a return for every reporting period, even with no sales or no tax to remit. The CRA calls this a nil return. Set a reminder for quiet periods too.

The Quick Method: worth a look for service businesses

The CRA's Quick Method of accounting is an optional, simpler way to calculate what you remit. Instead of tracking the tax you collected minus your input tax credits, you remit a fixed percentage of your tax-included sales and claim credits only on capital purchases.

The key points from the CRA's guide, RC4058:

• you are generally eligible if your annual worldwide taxable supplies, including GST/HST, are not more than $400,000; legal, accounting, bookkeeping and tax-preparation services are excluded;
• for a service business with an Ontario location making supplies taxed at 13 per cent, the remittance rate is 8.8 per cent of tax-included sales;
• you get a 1 per cent credit on the first $30,000 of eligible sales each year;
• annual filers must elect by the first day of their second fiscal quarter, online or with Form GST74.

It tends to suit businesses with low taxable expenses; if you buy a lot of taxable materials, the regular method may come out ahead. Run both on last year's numbers before choosing.

Records, and how to stop

Keep your GST/HST records for six years from the end of the year they relate to.

If your sales fall back below the threshold, you can close the account, online through My Business Account or by mail with Form RC145, as long as you have been registered for at least one full year. You must file a final return, and on closing you are treated as having sold the inventory and capital property you hold, so GST/HST may be owed on them in that final return.

A checklist for the day you register

1. Write down your effective date and the 29-day deadline.
2. Save your business number and GST/HST account number.
3. Add the account number and the tax line to your invoice template.
4. Start keeping purchase receipts that meet the ITC rules in the table above.
5. Put your filing date, and the April 30 payment date if it applies, in your calendar.
6. Decide on the Quick Method before the election deadline.

Drafted with AI assistance.

This note covers what the CRA expects a logbook to contain, the simplified logbook rule that means you do not have to keep a full one every year, what you can deduct, and a method that keeps the whole thing to a couple of minutes a day. Every rule comes from CRA and Department of Finance pages listed at the end, checked on 1 October 2026. It is general information, not tax advice.

What each trip entry needs

According to the CRA's page on motor vehicle records, for each business trip you should list:

• the date;
• the destination;
• the purpose of the trip;
• the number of kilometres you drove.

You also record the vehicle's odometer reading at the start and end of each fiscal period, and again if you change vehicles during the year. If you use more than one vehicle for the business, keep a separate record for each.

Those two odometer readings are what make the logbook useful. They give your total kilometres for the year. Your business kilometres, added up from the trip entries, divided by the total, is the business-use share the deduction is built on. The CRA's records page frames it as tracking total kilometres alongside the kilometres driven to earn business income.

The simplified logbook: one full year, then three months

Keeping a trip-by-trip log every day of every year is tedious, and the CRA does not require it. Its records page describes a simplified logbook:

1. Keep a full logbook for one complete year. This is your base year, and it shows your normal business use.
2. In later years, keep a logbook for a three-month sample period. If the business use in the sample is within the same range as the base year, within 10 per cent, you can use it to work out the business use for the whole year.

The calculation the CRA gives is:

(Sample year period % ÷ Base year period %) × Base year annual % = Calculated annual business use

The CRA's own worked example: a sample period showing 51 per cent business use, against 46 per cent for the same period of the base year, with 49 per cent for the whole base year, gives (51 ÷ 46) × 49 = 54 per cent. Because 54 per cent falls within 10 points of the base year's 49 per cent (between 39 and 59), it is acceptable.

Two cautions. First, the method only works while your driving pattern stays steady, which is what the 10 per cent test checks; if a sample period falls outside that range, you cannot rely on it. Second, the base-year logbook has to be kept for six years from the end of the last tax year in which you use it, not six years from when you wrote it. If you rely on a 2026 base year until 2030, you keep that logbook until the end of 2036.

What you can deduct

The CRA's list of deductible motor vehicle expenses for a business is:

• licence and registration fees;
• fuel and oil costs, and electricity costs for zero-emission vehicles;
• insurance;
• interest on money borrowed to buy the vehicle;
• maintenance and repairs;
• leasing costs.

You claim the business share of those on Form T2125, and capital cost allowance (the tax version of depreciation) on the vehicle itself separately. Keep the receipts as well as the logbook: the log proves the share, and the receipts prove the costs.

Passenger vehicles have limits

The CRA treats some vehicles differently. A passenger vehicle is, broadly, one designed to carry a driver and no more than eight passengers, with exceptions such as a van or pickup used 90 per cent or more to carry goods, equipment or passengers. Passenger vehicles are subject to limits on the capital cost allowance, interest and leasing costs you can claim.

For 2026, the Department of Finance announced these limits in January:

The ceiling caps the capital cost on which you can claim capital cost allowance; the business-use share then applies to what you claim.

About the per-kilometre rates you may have seen

The CRA publishes per-kilometre rates every year: for 2026, 73 cents for the first 5,000 kilometres and 67 cents after that in the provinces (77 and 71 cents in the territories). These are the rates the CRA considers reasonable for a business paying a vehicle allowance to its staff. They are not a way for a sole proprietor to calculate a deduction. If you work for yourself, you deduct the business share of your actual costs, which is why the logbook matters.

A method that takes two minutes a day

The rules are simple; the hard part is the habit. A routine that works:

1. Pick one place for the log and stick to it. A small notebook in the glove box, a notes file on your phone, or a spreadsheet with columns for date, start, destination, purpose and kilometres. Whatever you will actually open.
2. Write down the odometer on 1 January (or the first day of your fiscal period) and again on 31 December. Put both dates in your calendar now.
3. Log each business trip when you park, not at the end of the week. Destination and purpose take ten seconds while you remember them; "Customer site, quote" is enough.
4. Use the trip odometer. Reset it when you leave for a business trip and read it when you arrive. It is easier than subtracting two long numbers.
5. Once a month, total it up. Add the business kilometres and keep a running total. If the month is missing trips, fill them in from your calendar or invoices while you still can.
6. Choose a base year deliberately. Make your first full logbook year a normal one, then use three-month samples in the years that follow.
7. File it with the year's receipts, and keep it for six years from the end of the last year you rely on it.

A phone app that records trips automatically can work too, as long as each trip ends up with the four things the CRA asks for: date, destination, purpose and kilometres. Purpose is the one apps cannot fill in for you.

Drafted with AI assistance.

This note explains the parts, in plain words, and gives a short list of what to check and write down. It is written for anyone who has a domain, or is about to buy one, and wants to keep it safe without becoming an expert.

Four jobs that are easy to confuse

When you "have a website at yourbusiness.ca", up to four different services may be involved. Sometimes one company does all four; often it does not.

The registration. ICANN, the body that co-ordinates the global domain name system, calls the person or organization that holds the rights to a domain the registrant. That should be your business. You register through a registrar, the company you pay each year. Behind the registrar sits a registry, which runs each top-level domain (.com, .ca and so on) and publishes its records. Some companies that sell domains are resellers: ICANN notes that resellers are not accredited by it, and that the registrar remains responsible for services a reseller provides. Your fees, renewals and transfers are governed by your agreement with your registrar.

DNS hosting. The domain's DNS records are the public directions that tell the internet where your website and email live. They are kept by whichever company runs your domain's name servers. That is often the registrar, but it can be your web host or a separate DNS provider.

Web hosting. The server or service that actually serves your website.

Email hosting. The service that receives and stores your mail, such as a workspace provider or the email product bundled with your host.

The reason to know the difference: when something breaks, or when you want to move, you need to know which of the four to log in to. And when you leave a web designer or a hosting company, the registration is the part you must not leave behind.

DNS records, in plain words

You do not need to edit DNS records often, but you should recognise the main types when you see them. In Cloudflare's plain definitions:

The two you most need to protect are MX, because changing it changes where your email goes, and the TXT records that hold your email authentication settings, below. Before anyone changes your DNS, take a screenshot or export of the current records. It is the quickest way to undo a mistake.

Email that arrives: SPF, DKIM and DMARC

Three TXT-based settings tell other mail systems which servers are allowed to send email as your domain, and what to do with messages that fail the check.

• SPF lists the servers that may send mail for your domain.
• DKIM adds a cryptographic signature to your messages so receivers can check they were not altered or forged.
• DMARC tells receivers what to do with mail that fails: deliver it and report (a policy of "none"), mark it as suspicious ("quarantine"), or refuse it ("reject").

The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security's guidance on email domain protection says that for complete protection you must implement all three, and that only a DMARC policy of reject at 100 per cent will prevent illegitimate messages from being delivered. It also flags a practical limit: an SPF record can involve no more than 10 DNS lookups, which matters once you use several services that send mail for you, such as a newsletter tool, an invoicing app and your email provider.

There is also a delivery reason to do this. Google's email sender guidelines, in force since February 2024, require everyone sending to Gmail accounts to set up SPF or DKIM, and larger senders to set up SPF, DKIM and DMARC. A small business sending invoices and replies is unlikely to hit the bulk thresholds, but it still benefits from having all three in place.

If you own a domain you never send mail from, such as a spare spelling or an old brand, the Cyber Centre's guidance is to publish records that say so, so that nobody can send convincing mail from it.

Renewal traps, and what the rules guarantee

Most lost domains are not stolen. They expire. ICANN's rules give you some protection, but not unlimited time:

• Reminders. Under ICANN's Expired Registration Recovery Policy, registrars must send renewal reminders approximately one month and one week before expiry, and another notice within five days after it. They go to the contact details on your registration, which is why those must be current.
• The website goes dark first. After expiry, the policy requires that the domain stop resolving for at least the last eight consecutive days during which you can still renew it, as a final warning that is hard to miss.
• A last chance, at a price. Registries must offer a Redemption Grace Period of 30 days after a registration is deleted. Recovering a domain at that stage usually costs more than a renewal.

ICANN's statement of registrant responsibilities adds two rules worth knowing: you must keep your registrar account data current and respond to your registrar's inquiries within 15 days, and if you use auto-renewal you must keep your payment information up to date.

The simplest defences: turn on auto-renewal, renew for several years at a time if your registrar allows it, keep a working card on file, and put the expiry date in your own calendar with a reminder a month before.

Moving to another registrar

You can move a domain to another registrar, but there are two rules to plan around. Under ICANN's Transfer Policy, a registrar may refuse a transfer within 60 days of the domain's registration or of a previous transfer, and a change of registrant can trigger a 60-day transfer lock. To move, you request a transfer code (the "AuthInfo" code) from your current registrar, which the policy says must be provided within five calendar days. ICANN has published an updated version of the policy; check your registrar's current terms before you start.

What to keep a record of

Keep one page, stored where at least two people in the business can find it, with:

1. the domain name, the registrar, and the expiry date;
2. who the registrant is (it should be the business, not a former designer or employee);
3. the email address the registrar sends notices to, and confirmation that someone reads it;
4. where DNS is hosted, where the website is hosted, and where email is hosted;
5. an export or screenshot of the current DNS records, dated;
6. where the sign-in details are kept, and that two-factor sign-in is on for the registrar account.

Check it once a year, on a date you choose. Ten minutes a year is the whole cost of never losing the name your business is known by.

Drafted with AI assistance.

A single spreadsheet fixes most of that. Not a template with forty columns, but one sheet, one row per job or order, with a short list of statuses and a fifteen-minute review once a week. This note sets one up, using features that Google Sheets and Microsoft Excel both have, and explains the few rules that keep it useful after the first month.

One row per job, one sheet for everything

The rule that makes a tracker work is boring: every job or order gets exactly one row, from first enquiry to final payment. You do not move it to another tab when it is finished. Changing the status is how a job moves.

Keeping everything on one sheet means a filter can answer any question you have later, such as "what did we finish in March" or "which customers still owe us". Splitting work across tabs breaks that.

The columns that matter

Start with these, in this order. Each one earns its place by answering a question you will actually ask.

Two of these do most of the work. Next step forces you to write down the action, not the situation: "Call to confirm Friday" is useful; "waiting on customer" is not. Due turns the sheet into a to-do list, because you can sort by it.

Resist adding columns in the first month; if you must, add them at the right-hand end.

A short, fixed list of statuses

Statuses only work if there are few of them and everyone uses the same words. Seven is enough for most service businesses and small shops:

1. New: an enquiry or order has arrived and nobody has replied yet.
2. Quoted: a price has been sent; waiting for a yes.
3. Booked: the customer said yes and the work has a date.
4. In progress: the work has started.
5. Done, to invoice: the work is finished but not billed.
6. Invoiced: the bill has gone out; waiting for payment.
7. Closed: paid, or declined, or cancelled. Note which in the Notes column.

The most valuable status on that list is number five. Finished work that has not been invoiced is the easiest money a small business loses, and giving it its own status makes it visible.

To stop the list drifting into "quoted?", "QUOTED" and "sent quote", make the Status column a dropdown. In Google Sheets, choose Insert, then Dropdown, or Data, then Data validation, then Add rule, and type your seven statuses as the options. In Excel, choose Data, then Data Validation, set Allow to List, and enter the statuses as the source. Picking from a list is faster than typing, and every row ends up using the same words.

Make the sheet show you what needs attention

Three features turn a list into a tool, and both programs have all three.

Freeze the header row. In Google Sheets, View, then Freeze, then 1 row; in Excel, View, then Freeze Panes. The column names stay visible as you scroll.

Colour by status and date with conditional formatting. Two rules are enough to start:

• colour the whole row when Status is "Done, to invoice", so unbilled work stands out;
• colour the Due cell red when the date is before today and the job is not Closed.

In Google Sheets, conditional formatting is under Format, then Conditional formatting, and Google's help explains that a custom formula can format cells based on the contents of other cells, which is how one rule colours a whole row. In Excel it is under Home, then Conditional Formatting, where a rule can likewise use a formula to determine which cells to format.

Filter, do not delete. Turn on a filter for the header row and use it to see one status at a time, or to sort by Due. In Google Sheets, note the difference Google's help draws: a plain filter is seen by everyone with access to the sheet, while a filter view applies only to your view, so you can keep a saved "Open jobs by due date" without rearranging the sheet for anyone else. In Excel, choose Data, then Filter, or format the range as a table (Home, then Format as Table, with "My table has headers" ticked), which puts filter buttons on every column heading.

Protect the sheet from the usual accidents

A shared spreadsheet's most common failure is someone sorting one column on its own, which scrambles every row. Three habits prevent it:

• Sort through the filter, never by selecting a single column.
• Protect the header row so the column names cannot be typed over by accident. In Google Sheets, Data, then Protect sheets and ranges lets you either show a warning or restrict who can edit. Google is clear that this is a guard against accidents, not a security measure.
• Know where the history is. Google Sheets keeps a version history, opened from the version history button at the top of the sheet, where anyone with edit access can name a version and restore an earlier one. Name a version before any big clean-up. If your tracker is a file on one laptop, keep a dated copy somewhere else.

The fifteen-minute weekly review

The sheet only stays true if someone looks at it on a schedule. Once a week, at the same time, go through four filters in order:

1. Status = New. Every enquiry gets a reply or a next step. Nothing should sit here longer than a day or two.
2. Due before today, not Closed. Each overdue row gets either an action or a new, honest due date.
3. Status = Done, to invoice. Send every invoice. This is the step that pays for the whole exercise.
4. Status = Invoiced, oldest first. Follow up anything past its payment terms.

Then add up the Quoted column for jobs that are Booked or In progress. That number is your work in hand, and watching it week to week tells you more about the next month than any forecast.

When to keep it, and when to move on

Keep the spreadsheet as long as one or two people use it and the weekly review takes under half an hour. The signs it is time for dedicated job or order software are practical ones: several people need to update jobs from their phones at the same time, you need customers to book or pay online, or you are copying the same information into invoices and calendars by hand every day.

Even then, use the columns above to test any software: if it cannot show you, on one screen, what is new, overdue, unbilled and unpaid, it does less than your spreadsheet.

Whatever you use, keep your business records. The Canada Revenue Agency's general rule is to keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, and its guidance on electronic record keeping says electronic records must stay in an electronically readable format for that whole period. A tracker exported once a year to a dated file is a simple way to keep a readable copy of what you did and when.

Drafted with AI assistance.

It is easy to use once you understand what it is: not one building, and not a single system with one owner, but dozens of private basements and concourses joined together. This note explains how it fits together and how to get around it with confidence. Every figure comes from the City of Toronto and the Toronto Financial District BIA, listed at the end.

What the PATH is

The City describes the PATH as a mostly underground pedestrian network in downtown Toronto spanning more than 30 kilometres of restaurants, shopping, services and entertainment. Its own figures give a sense of scale:

• more than 75 buildings are connected to it;
• six subway stations, three major department stores, nine hotels and Union Station, the city's busiest transit hub, can be reached through it;
• there are 1,200 restaurants, shops and services in about 3.7 million square feet of retail space;
• it handles more than 200,000 business-day commuters, as well as tourists and residents.

City Hall and Metro Hall are connected, and so are several of downtown's big venues: the City names the Hockey Hall of Fame, Roy Thomson Hall, Scotiabank Arena and the CF Toronto Eaton Centre. In broad terms, the City says you can walk from the waterfront to Downtown Yonge, and from the Entertainment District across to Yonge Street.

Why it feels like many places at once

The single most useful fact about the PATH is who owns it. According to the City, each segment is owned and controlled by the owner of the property it runs through, and about 35 corporations are involved. The City's role, set by Council in 1987, is to co-ordinate.

That explains almost everything that confuses first-time users:

• The look changes every few hundred metres, because you are walking from one building's concourse into the next.
• Access depends on the building. The City's PATH page does not publish one set of opening hours for the network. Because each stretch belongs to the building it runs through, a corridor that is busy at noon on a Tuesday may be closed on a Sunday evening.
• Restaurants and shops keep their own hours, separate from the corridor that passes them.

The practical rule follows: treat the PATH as a weekday, daytime network, and if you are travelling early, late or on a weekend, have a street-level route ready in case a link is closed.

The network is also older than it looks. The City traces it to 1900, when the T. Eaton Co. built a tunnel between its main store and an annex; by 1917 there were five tunnels downtown, and in 1927 a tunnel joined Union Station to the Royal York hotel. Most of what you walk through today was added much later, building by building.

How the signs work

New wayfinding was installed throughout the PATH in spring 2018, according to the City. The Toronto Financial District BIA, which looks after the PATH map, describes the system as easy-to-understand coloured pathways, with destination markers that point to major places. "Waterfront", for example, shows the route south toward Lake Ontario.

In practice, the signs that matter are the destination names: Union Station, a street name, a tower, a landmark. Read the overhead sign, pick the destination closest to where you are going, and follow it. You will see the PATH logo, a word made of four coloured letters, on signs and at entrances from the street.

Before you go: get the map

The City publishes the official PATH map as a downloadable PDF, and the BIA's own answer to "is there an app?" is plain: there is currently no app for the PATH map; downloadable maps are available. Save the PDF to your phone before you go underground. Satellite positioning does not reach below the street, so a phone's map app can easily place you in the wrong building.

The official map shows building names, the streets above, and the connections between them. Use it to plan your route as a list of buildings, not as a line: "Union Station, then this tower, then that one, then up to King Street." That is how the signs will present it.

Getting oriented: habits that work

Know the streets above you. The official map draws the street grid over the walkways. Note which street you went down from, and which one you want to come up at.

Use Union Station as your anchor. It is the network's busiest connection, linked to trains, the UP Express and the bus terminal, and it is well signed from most of the downtown core. If you get turned around, follow the signs back to Union and start again.

Come up for air. If you are lost, take the nearest exit to street level, find a street sign, and go back down. It takes two minutes and saves twenty.

Allow extra time. Underground routes are rarely straight. A trip that is three blocks at street level can involve several turns, corridors and changes of level below it.

Accessibility

The BIA says the PATH maps are designed to help people with accessibility needs by marking where the level changes and showing alternate step-free routes such as ramps, and that the colours on maps and signs follow the recommended 70 per cent contrast level. The official map also marks accessible routes through some of the larger complexes.

Because each section belongs to a different building, the step-free option can be inside the building rather than in the corridor itself, and it may close when the building does. If you depend on a step-free route, check the map for level changes before you set out, and allow time for a detour.

If you need the map in another format or help reading it, the City's map points to the Toronto Financial District BIA, at info@torontofinancialdistrict.com.

When the PATH is worth it

The PATH earns its place on the coldest, wettest and hottest days, and at lunchtime, when it is the quickest way to reach a lot of food without crossing traffic. It is less useful on weekends and evenings, and for long distances, when a subway ride or the street is often faster.

A simple way to start: on the next cold weekday, walk from Union Station to the Eaton Centre underground with the map open. Once you have done one route end to end, the rest of the network starts to make sense.

Drafted with AI assistance.

This note sets it out. Prices are taken from Bike Share Toronto's pricing page as it read on 1 October 2026; they change, so check the page before you buy a membership.

What it is

According to the Toronto Parking Authority, which owns and operates it, Bike Share Toronto is a public bike share system that operates in the City of Toronto year-round, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The fleet is a mix of classic bikes and pedal-assist electric bikes, rented from and returned to docking stations across the city.

It is large. A Toronto Parking Authority report from May 2025 described a network of over 850 stations and 9,000 bikes, including 1,900 e-bikes, with 7 million rides in 2024. Global News reported in March 2026 that the system recorded 7.8 million rides in 2025, with more docks and bikes planned for 2026.

The passes and what they cost

There are four main ways to pay, according to the pricing page:

There is also a City Weekly Pass, which the pricing page names alongside the Day Pass but does not price, a 20 per cent student discount on annual memberships, and a Reduced Fare Pass Program for Toronto Community Housing tenants and Ontario Disability Support Program recipients. The pricing page does not say whether its prices include tax.

The time limits, in plain words

This is the part that catches people. The number in a pass's name is not the length of your day. It is the length of each ride.

• With Annual 30, every classic-bike ride is included for up to 30 minutes. You can take as many rides as you like.
• With Annual 45, the same, for up to 45 minutes each.
• With the Day Pass, each classic-bike ride is included for up to 90 minutes.

Go past the limit and you pay overage. For memberships, the pricing page says classic-bike trips longer than the 30- or 45-minute limit are charged $0.12 for each additional minute until you dock. Day Pass and City Weekly Pass rides longer than 90 minutes are charged the same $0.12 a minute until the bike is docked.

The practical habit that follows: for a long trip, dock on the way and start a new ride. Memberships include unlimited trips of up to 30 or 45 minutes each and have no unlock fees, so docking at a station along your route and taking a bike out again costs nothing extra. A few minutes at a station is cheaper than a long overage.

Pay-As-You-Go has no limit to exceed; you pay by the minute from the start. On a classic bike at $0.12 a minute, a 20-minute ride costs $1 plus $2.40, or $3.40 before any tax.

E-bikes are priced differently

The single most common surprise is that the Day Pass and the City Weekly Pass do not include e-bikes. The pricing page says so directly: e-bikes on those passes are charged at Pay-As-You-Go rates, $1 to unlock plus $0.20 a minute.

Annual members get e-bikes at half the per-minute rate, $0.10 a minute, with no unlock fee. If you would mostly ride e-bikes, compare that per-minute cost against your usual trip length, not only the membership price.

Which pass fits

Some rough arithmetic, using the prices above and ignoring tax:

• Two or three short rides, once in a while: Pay-As-You-Go. You pay only when you ride.
• A full day of getting around, on classic bikes: the Day Pass. At $15 it pays for itself after a few medium-length Pay-As-You-Go rides.
• Commuting: an annual membership. The pricing page puts it at less than $10 a month. Annual 30 suits trips that reliably take under half an hour; Annual 45 costs $15 more a year and gives you room for slower days, detours and longer routes.

If your usual trip takes 25 to 30 minutes, the $15 difference buys a lot of peace of mind. A few overage minutes on several rides add up quickly at $0.12 each.

How a ride works

Every station has docking points where the bikes are locked, and most have a kiosk, the payment terminal. The Toronto Parking Authority's station guide notes that some stations, called SMART stations, have no kiosk; at those, bikes can only be taken out using the mobile app, the mobile web page or a member card. The simplest approach is to set up the official app before your first ride, so you can unlock a bike at any station.

The steps, in order:

1. Check the bike before you take it. Squeeze both brakes, look at the tires, and check the seat clamp. If anything is wrong, return it and take another.
2. Unlock it with the app, the kiosk or your member card.
3. Ride, and watch the clock if you are on a pass with a time limit.
4. Dock it firmly at any station. Push the bike all the way into a free docking point and make sure it is locked in before you walk away. Overage is charged until the bike is docked, so an unlocked bike left beside a station is still on your account.

If the station you reach is full, ride on to the next one, and budget a few minutes for it if you are close to your time limit.

Riding in winter

The system runs year-round, and winter riding is practical with a few habits. Leave more time and more distance for stopping, make yourself visible after dark, and dress for the wind on a moving bike rather than the temperature on the sidewalk. On days with heavy snow, plan a backup way home in case a station is hard to reach.

E-bikes need charging, and the station guide explains that only some stations, called e-stations, can charge them; e-bikes can still be docked at solar-powered stations.

Who can ride

Riding age rules are set in Bike Share Toronto's user agreement, and they have been under review. In May 2025, Toronto Parking Authority management recommended allowing riders aged 14 to 15 to use classic bikes with a parent or guardian's supervision, and riders aged 16 to 17 to use classic bikes and e-bikes on their own. Check the current user agreement for the rules in force before signing up a younger rider.

Drafted with AI assistance.

Giving the business its own number is cheap and takes an afternoon. This note covers the three common ways to do it, the trade-offs that matter in Canada, a voicemail that does its job, and the rules for keeping a number when you change providers.

Why a separate number is worth it

A separate business number does four things:

• It lets you stop work. You can silence one line in the evening without missing family calls.
• It belongs to the business. You can print it on invoices, vans and your website, and move it to a new provider, phone or person later.
• It keeps records clean. Business calls and costs are on their own line, which helps at tax time.
• It sounds like a business when you answer it, because you know before you pick up that the call is about work.

Option 1: a second line on the phone you already have

Most recent phones can hold two numbers at once, using a physical SIM card and an eSIM, or two eSIMs. Apple's own example for its Dual SIM feature is to use one number for business and another for personal calls, and it lets you label the plans "Business" and "Personal" so you can see which line a call is on. Apple says iPhone 13 models and later support Dual SIM with two eSIMs. On Google's Pixel phones, Google says the Pixel 3a and later can use one physical SIM and one eSIM, and two eSIMs at once need a Pixel 7 or later and a carrier that allows it.

Two details to know before you set this up: a phone can use only one line for mobile data at a time, on both iPhone and Pixel, and your carrier must offer eSIM on the plan you choose.

Good for: most people working alone. One phone, two numbers, each with its own plan and bill.

Option 2: an internet (VoIP) phone number

A VoIP service gives you a phone number that runs over the internet, usually through an app on your phone and computer. It can be cheaper than a second mobile plan, and many include features a sole proprietor finds useful: business-hours rules, voicemail transcribed to email, and the same number ringing on several devices.

The trade-off is reliability and emergencies. The CRTC's notice for VoIP providers spells out what customers must be told: VoIP service depends on internet connectivity and power to function, so it may not work in an outage. When you call 9-1-1 on a VoIP line, you must immediately tell the emergency operator your location and contact details, because the operator may assume you are calling from the last address registered with your provider. The CRTC recommends keeping an alternative phone service, such as a cell phone, handy.

So if you choose VoIP: keep your registered address up to date with the provider whenever you work from a new place, and do not make it your only phone.

Good for: people who work from a desk much of the day, want call routing and transcribed voicemail, or want the business number to ring on a computer too.

Option 3: a second phone

The oldest option still has a place. A separate, inexpensive phone for the business is easy to switch off, easy to hand to someone else, and keeps work apps off your personal device. The cost is carrying and charging two phones.

Good for: people who want a hard line between work and home, or expect to pass the business phone to someone else.

When you buy a phone or a plan

The CRTC's Wireless Code protects you when you sign up for mobile service, and three of its rules matter for a business line:

• you can cancel your contract after two years with no cancellation fees;
• new devices are sold unlocked, and older devices must be unlocked free of charge on request, so you can move the phone to another carrier;
• you can return a new phone within 15 days without penalty if you have used no more than half of your monthly allowance (30 days, and full usage, for people with disabilities).

Voicemail that does its job

A good business voicemail greeting answers three questions in under twenty seconds: who they have reached, when you will call back, and what to leave. For example:

"You've reached [business name]. I'm on a job or with a customer, and I return every call the same business day. Please leave your name, your number and what you need, and I'll call you back."

Then keep the promise. Check messages at set times, such as midday and the end of the day, and update the greeting when you are away: "I'm away until Monday the 12th."

Record it somewhere quiet, keep it short, and avoid "your call is important to us". Say the number they can text instead, if you prefer messages.

Keeping your number when you switch providers

The number customers know is the most valuable part of your phone setup, and in Canada you can usually take it with you. The CRTC's guidance on choosing a local phone service sets out the rules:

• You can keep your phone number when you change phone companies, as long as you stay within your local exchange area. Number portability is available in most, but not all, of Canada.
• Do not cancel your current service first. Ask your new provider about keeping your number before you cancel. You can only keep a number that is currently in use.
• The CRTC prohibits providers of telephone services from requiring customers to give 30 days' notice of cancellation.

In practice, the order is: sign up with the new provider, ask them to transfer ("port") your existing number, give them the account details they ask for, and let them request the move. Keep a copy of a recent bill handy, since it shows your account number, and do not schedule a switch for your busiest week.

If you call customers

One last rule for anyone who phones people to sell. The National Do Not Call List rules apply to telemarketing calls, but the list's own FAQ notes exemptions: calls to people who have done business with the organization in the last 18 months, or who made an inquiry in the last 6 months, and business-to-business calls. Organizations that do telemarket must keep their own internal do-not-call lists. If you follow up with your own customers about their own work, you are generally within the exemptions; if you start cold-calling, read the rules first.

A simple setup to start with

For most one-person businesses: add an eSIM business line to the phone you already have, label it, set its own voicemail greeting, and put the business number on everything. Keep a note of the account number and PIN for that line with your business records, so you can move it to another provider, or to another phone, whenever you need to.

Drafted with AI assistance.

That page goes by different names: "How we work", "Our process", "What to expect". It answers the questions people otherwise ask by phone, one at a time, every week. Done well, it saves you those calls, filters out the jobs you do not take, and makes the customers who do call better prepared. This note gives a structure for it and the writing rules that keep it useful.

Start from the questions people already ask

Do not start by describing your process the way you think about it. Start with the questions customers ask you. For a week, keep a list of every question that arrives by phone, email or message before someone becomes a customer. Most small businesses find the same handful again and again:

• Do you do this kind of job? Do you come to my area?
• How soon can you start, and how long does it take?
• How much will it cost, roughly? Do you charge for a quote?
• Do I pay a deposit? When is the rest due, and how can I pay?
• What happens if something changes partway through?
• What do I need to do or have ready?

Those questions are the outline of the page. Nielsen Norman Group makes the same point about FAQ pages: the questions should echo the real concerns people contact you about, not the ones you wish they asked.

A structure that works for most small businesses

Seven short sections, in the order a customer thinks about them.

1. What we do, and what we don't. Two short lists. The second one is the one people skip and the one that saves the most time. If you do not take jobs under a certain size, do not work outside a certain area, or do not do a particular service, say so here, plainly.

2. How to get started. What the first contact looks like and what you need from them: photos, measurements, an address, a rough budget, the date they need it by. If a form is the best way, link to it.

3. How quickly we reply. A response time you can actually keep, in plain terms: "We reply to every enquiry within one business day." A promise you miss is worse than a slower one you keep.

4. Quotes and estimates. Whether a quote is free, how it is given (on site, by email, after a call), how long it stays valid, and what it includes. Say something about price, even if it is a range. Nielsen Norman Group's research found that prospective customers treat price as their number one information need on a website, and that people leave for competitors' sites when a site does not show prices. Its advice for businesses whose prices vary is to show sample prices for a few typical jobs. If prices depend on things you cannot know in advance, say what they are.

5. Payment. Whether you take a deposit and how much, when the balance is due, which payment methods you accept, and whether prices include tax. Customers are not offended by clear payment terms; they are offended by surprises.

6. During the work. Who they will deal with, how you will keep them updated, and what happens if the scope changes. One sentence on changes ("If the job changes, we agree the new price in writing before we do the extra work") prevents most disputes.

7. After the work. What "finished" means, how you hand over, and how to reach you if something is not right.

End the page with one clear next step: a button or link to the contact form, and the response time again.

Write it so people can actually read it

People rarely read web pages word by word. In Nielsen Norman Group's original study of how people read on the web, 79 per cent of test users always scanned a new page and only 16 per cent read word by word. Its later eye-tracking work recommends starting headings and subheadings with the words that carry the most information. Writing for scanning is not dumbing down; it is the format the reader is already using.

In practice:

• Use headings that say something. "Payment" is fine. "Payment: 30% deposit, balance on completion" is better, because a scanner gets the answer from the heading alone.
• Put the answer first. Both the GOV.UK publishing guidance and the Canada.ca Content Style Guide say to start with the most important information. "We reply within one business day" first; the reason second.
• Keep sentences and paragraphs short. The Canada.ca guide puts the optimal sentence at under 15 to 20 words and suggests a heading roughly every 200 words; GOV.UK suggests splitting sentences over 25 words and writing in the active voice. One idea per paragraph.
• Use the words your customers use. If customers say "quote", do not write "proposal". If you must use a technical term, explain it the first time it appears.
• Use numbers, not adjectives. "Fast turnaround" says nothing. "Most jobs are booked within two weeks" says something, and you can check whether it is still true.

FAQs: useful at the end, not instead

A short FAQ at the bottom can catch questions that do not fit the structure above. Nielsen Norman Group's view is that FAQs still deliver value when the questions echo real customer concerns and a long FAQ is grouped by topic so it can be scanned. Keep it to questions customers really ask, not marketing phrased as a question ("Why are we the best choice?"), and answer each in a sentence or two.

One tension to know about: the GOV.UK guidance advises against headings written as questions, because readers want answers. That is why the sections above use statement headings, and the FAQ, if you have one, stays short and at the end.

Be careful with prices and promises

A "how we work" page is a public statement, so write only what you will honour.

If you work in Ontario and give customers estimates, know the rule that applies. The Ontario government's guidance for businesses says that if you give a consumer an estimate, the law says you cannot charge more than 10 per cent above it unless the customer agrees to the additional charges. Write your quote policy with that in mind, and check the official page for the details that apply to your work.

The same goes for response times, start dates and guarantees. Write the version you meet on a busy week, not on a quiet one.

A fictional example section

Here is how one section might read for a fictional one-person renovation painter. The business and its policies are made up, to show the tone:

Payment: 25% to book, the rest when we finish. We take a 25% deposit to hold your dates. The balance is due on the day the job is finished, after you have walked through it with us. We accept e-Transfer and credit card. All prices include HST.

Four sentences, one heading that carries the answer, and nothing a customer would need to phone about.

Keep it true

Put a reminder in your calendar to reread the page every three months, and whenever something changes: a new payment method, a new service area, a different deposit. The page is only valuable while it matches what actually happens. A customer who reads "we reply within one business day" and waits a week trusts every other line on your site a little less.

Drafted with AI assistance.

It is general information, not tax advice. If your situation has any complication, such as a corporation, a partner, employees or income from outside Canada, talk to an accountant.

The four numbers

$30,000: the GST/HST small supplier line. You do not have to register for the GST/HST while your taxable sales stay at or under $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters. The count includes associated businesses and worldwide taxable supplies, and it excludes a few items such as sales of capital property and goodwill.

How you cross the line matters:

• If you pass $30,000 within a single calendar quarter, you must charge the tax on the very sale that took you over. Your registration is effective no later than the day of that sale.
• If you pass it over four consecutive quarters but not in any one quarter, you stop being a small supplier at the end of the month after the quarter in which you crossed it. Registration is effective no later than your first sale after that.

Either way, you have 29 days from the effective date to register. In Ontario the harmonized rate is 13 per cent. One exception to know about: taxi and commercial ride-sharing drivers must register from their first fare, whatever their sales.

Registering before you reach $30,000 is allowed if you make taxable supplies. It can make sense when most of your customers are businesses that recover the tax anyway, because a registrant can generally claim back the GST/HST paid on business purchases. Once you register, you charge tax on every taxable sale, so price with that in mind.

$3,500: where Canada Pension Plan contributions start. An employee splits CPP with an employer. A self-employed person pays both halves. For 2026 the combined rate is 11.9 per cent of net self-employment earnings between the $3,500 basic exemption and $74,600, the year's maximum pensionable earnings. The most a self-employed person can pay at that level in 2026 is $8,460.90.

$85,000: the second ceiling. Since 2024 there is a second tier, called CPP2. On earnings between $74,600 and $85,000 in 2026, a self-employed person pays 8 per cent, both halves of the 4 per cent rate, up to $832. There is no exemption at this tier.

CPP is not withheld from self-employment income during the year. It is calculated on your return, on Schedule 8, and it is owed with your income tax. It is easy to overlook in a first year: the bill in April includes a pension contribution that nobody withheld.

$3,000: the instalment trigger. You may have to pay tax in quarterly instalments if your net tax owing is more than $3,000 (in Quebec, $1,800) in the current year and in either of the two previous years. Because the test looks back, someone whose tax was fully withheld at a job in the two previous years is usually not required to pay instalments in the first year of self-employment. It tends to be the second or third year when the CRA's instalment reminders start to arrive.

The five dates

The June 15 filing date is easy to misread as a payment date. It is not. The CRA's calendar for the 2025 tax year lists June 15, 2026 as the filing deadline for self-employed people and April 30, 2026 as the deadline to pay. A balance paid after April 30 collects interest even if the return goes in on time in June.

The form that reports the business

A sole proprietor reports business income and expenses on Form T2125, Statement of Business or Professional Activities, filed with the personal return. It asks for gross income, then expenses by category, and arrives at net income, which is what income tax and CPP are calculated on.

If you work from home, the T2125 has a line for business-use-of-home expenses. The CRA allows the claim only if the workspace meets one of two conditions:

• it is your principal place of business; or
• you use it only to earn business income and you meet clients or customers there on a regular and ongoing basis.

Split the costs on a reasonable basis, such as the workspace's floor area over the home's total area. Renters can claim a share of rent. Owners can claim shares of costs such as mortgage interest and property taxes; capital cost allowance on the home is allowed but has consequences when you sell. The claim cannot create or increase a business loss. Any amount you cannot use this year can be carried forward to a later year.

Records

Keep records and supporting documents for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to. If you file a return late, the six years run from the day you file it. Destroying them sooner requires the CRA's written permission. The practical version: one folder per tax year, invoices and receipts in it as they happen, and a backup copy somewhere else.

One optional decision: EI special benefits

Self-employed people can opt in to Employment Insurance special benefits, which cover situations such as maternity, parental and sickness leave. It is a real decision rather than a formality:

• your agreement must be active for at least 12 months before you can receive any benefits;
• you must meet a minimum level of net self-employment earnings in the year before you claim;
• you can withdraw at any time unless you have received benefits; after a claim, you pay premiums for as long as you remain self-employed.

A first-year checklist

1. Open a separate bank account for the business so the T2125 is easy to build.
2. Put aside part of every payment for income tax and CPP. The CPP share alone is 11.9 per cent of net earnings above $3,500.
3. Track sales by calendar quarter so you know when you approach $30,000.
4. Write April 30 and June 15 in your calendar now, for next year.
5. Keep receipts and invoices by tax year, for six years.
6. Read the EI self-employed pages before your first year ends, and decide.

Drafted with AI assistance.

A better system is smaller than either. It rests on one federal rule, a short list of documents that never expire, and a backup habit. This note sets it out for Canada. It is general information, not tax or legal advice.

The rule that decides most of it: six years

The Canada Revenue Agency asks individuals to keep tax documents and records for at least six years. That applies even if you filed online and even if a form told you not to attach your receipts. The CRA can ask for them later to check what you claimed.

What the CRA says to keep:

• a copy of each tax return you filed;
• every notice of assessment or reassessment;
• receipts and other proof for deductions and credits: official receipts, but also cancelled cheques, bank statements and anything else that shows what you paid.

The CRA's business records page adds the detail that matters when a year is unusual. The six years run from the end of the last tax year the records relate to. If you file a return late, they run from the day you file it. If you dispute an assessment, keep the records until the dispute is fully resolved or the six years end, whichever is later.

In practice, that means one folder per tax year. When a new year's folder goes in, the oldest one that has passed six years can come out, unless something in it still relates to a later year.

Records that relate to a later year

The phrase "the last tax year they relate to" is the one to read slowly. Some papers support a calculation you will only make years from now.

The clearest examples are records of what you paid for something you may sell later, such as an investment or a property, and what you spent improving it. Those papers relate to the year you report the sale, so they need to be kept until six years after that year. File them in a folder of their own, labelled by the asset, not by year.

Registered accounts: keep your own tally

For a TFSA, the CRA is blunt: keep and maintain your own records, and track your contributions closely. Financial institutions report a year's transactions to the CRA by the end of February of the following year, so the contribution room the CRA shows can be months out of date. An excess amount is taxed at 1 per cent per month for as long as it stays in the account.

A simple running list works: date, account, amount in, amount out. Keep it with the year-end statements from each institution. Do the same for RRSP contributions and their receipts.

Documents that never expire

A small set of papers has no retention period, because you may need them at any point in your life. Keep them together, in one place that is secure and that someone you trust knows about:

• birth, marriage and citizenship or immigration documents;
• your Social Insurance Number record. Service Canada no longer issues plastic SIN cards; a confirmation now comes as a letter, in paper or digital format. Plastic cards already issued can still be used. Service Canada's page is clear that you are responsible for protecting your number, so keep the card or letter at home rather than in your wallet;
• passports and other government identification, and their renewal dates written somewhere you will see them;
• wills, powers of attorney and insurance policies, with the name of whoever holds the originals.

Paper or scans

Scanning cuts the box down to a folder, and the CRA accepts electronic records. Its guidance on electronic record keeping sets two conditions worth knowing even for a household:

• electronic records must be kept in a readable electronic format for the full retention period, even if you also keep the paper;
• backing them up is your responsibility.

If a file lives on one laptop only, it is not really kept.

A backup habit that takes ten minutes

Get Cyber Safe, the federal government's public awareness campaign, gives plain advice on backups:

• back up regularly. If your external drive does not back up automatically, set a reminder to do it at least once a week;
• for extra peace of mind, consider backing up to two different storage devices;
• protect the backups with passwords or encryption wherever possible;
• keep backup storage separate from your computer, even away from home, so one theft or one fire does not take both.

A workable version for a household: scanned documents in one cloud folder, arranged by year and by the "never expires" folder, plus a weekly copy to an external drive that lives in a drawer, not beside the computer.

A one-page system

1. Inbox. One tray or folder where every new document lands. Empty it once a month.
2. This year. A folder for the current tax year: receipts, statements, slips as they arrive.
3. Past six years. One folder per year. Each spring, after you file, add the new year and review the oldest.
4. Assets. One folder per investment, property or major purchase, kept until six years after the year it is sold.
5. Never expires. Identity and life documents, secured.
6. Backup. A cloud copy and a weekly drive copy of everything scanned.

When a folder passes its six years and nothing in it relates to a later year, shred the paper rather than recycling it whole. It carries the same personal details that you protected for six years.

Drafted with AI assistance.

Start with the accounts that unlock the others

Before changing anything, list the accounts that can reset other accounts. For most people that is:

1. the main email account, because almost every "forgot password" link goes there;
2. the phone account and the Apple, Google or Microsoft account the phone signs in to;
3. banking and any account that holds money, such as a payment processor;
4. the password manager, if you use one;
5. for a business, the domain registrar and the account that runs the website.

Secure these first, in that order. An attacker who holds your email can usually take most of the rest.

Passwords: long beats complicated

The Cyber Centre's guidance is concrete:

• a passphrase should be at least four words and 15 characters long;
• a password should be at least 12 characters;
• use a different password, passphrase or PIN for every account and device.

NIST's current guideline, SP 800-63B-4, points the same way from the service's side. A password used on its own must be at least 15 characters. Services should not impose composition rules, such as demanding a mix of symbols and capitals, and should not force people to change passwords on a schedule. A change should be forced only when there is evidence the password has been compromised.

The lesson for a household: stop rotating passwords every few months and stop inventing clever substitutions. Make each one long and unique, and change it when a service tells you it may have leaked.

Password managers, and where the two sources differ

Nobody remembers dozens of long, unique passwords. A password manager remembers them for you and fills them in only on the site they belong to.

Here the sources part slightly. NIST requires services to allow password managers and autofill. The Cyber Centre suggests a manager for lower-sensitivity accounts, but not for sensitive ones, giving administrator and banking accounts as examples, and says to protect the manager itself with a strong passphrase and multi-factor authentication.

A reasonable middle path: use a manager for everything routine, protect it with a long passphrase and a second factor, and keep the handful of most sensitive credentials, such as banking, as passphrases you actually know.

Two-factor: not all second factors are equal

Multi-factor authentication (MFA) means proving who you are with more than one kind of evidence. Get Cyber Safe describes the kinds as something you know, something you have and something that is part of you. Turning it on means a stolen password is no longer enough.

The Cyber Centre ranks the options clearly in its guidance on deploying MFA:

• FIDO-based methods, meaning security keys and passkeys, are "strongly recommended".
• SMS codes should be considered only for low-risk logins, because the codes travel unencrypted and can be intercepted, for example through SIM swapping or phishing.
• Watch for MFA fatigue, where an attacker triggers approval prompts again and again until someone taps "approve" to make them stop. Never approve a sign-in you did not start.

In practice, from strongest to weakest: a passkey or physical security key, then an authenticator app, then a text message. A text message is still far better than nothing.

Passkeys, briefly

A passkey replaces the password with a pair of cryptographic keys. The website stores only the public key; the private key stays with you and is unlocked by your device's fingerprint, face or PIN. The FIDO Alliance, which maintains the standard, describes passkeys as phishing-resistant: each one is tied to the website it was made for, so it will not work on a lookalike site, and there is no password on the server to steal. The biometric check happens on your device and is never sent to the site.

There are two kinds:

• synced passkeys are copied across your devices by your platform account or password manager, which makes them convenient and recoverable;
• device-bound passkeys live on a single piece of hardware, such as a security key, and never leave it.

The Cyber Centre's guidance on passkeys stresses keeping the private keys secure. With synced passkeys, that means the account doing the syncing becomes one of the most important you have, so give it the strongest protection available.

Where a service offers a passkey, use it. Where it does not, use a long unique password plus the strongest second factor it supports.

Plan for losing your phone

Every setup above assumes you can still reach your second factor. Plan for the day you cannot.

• Recovery codes. Many services issue one-time recovery codes when you turn on MFA. NIST's guidance describes saved recovery codes as meant to be kept offline, printed or written down, and stored securely. Put them with your important papers, not in the same phone you are protecting.
• A backup factor. The Cyber Centre advises giving users a backup factor as strong as the primary one. A second security key, kept at home, is the cleanest version.
• For a business, make sure at least two trusted people can recover the email, domain and banking accounts, so one lost phone does not lock the business out.

The afternoon version

1. List the accounts that unlock the others.
2. Install a password manager and protect it with a long passphrase and MFA.
3. Give each key account a long, unique password or passphrase.
4. Turn on the strongest second factor each one offers, and a passkey where available.
5. Save the recovery codes offline, somewhere safe.
6. Set up a backup factor, and for a business, a second person who can recover access.

Drafted with AI assistance.

That is worth fixing, and it does not need a consultant. Canadian regulators and the federal government have published clear guidance. This note summarizes the parts that apply to a small team and ends with a one-page policy you can adapt. It is general information, not legal advice.

What the regulators have said

Privacy law already applies. In December 2023 Canada's federal, provincial and territorial privacy commissioners issued joint principles for generative AI. Their starting point is that these tools do not sit outside existing privacy law. The principles cover familiar ground: having legal authority and consent for what you do with personal information, collecting and using only what is necessary, being open about how it is used, and keeping it accurate.

You stay responsible for what you hand over. The federal Office of the Privacy Commissioner has long held that when a business transfers personal information to another company for processing, the business remains accountable for that information in the other company's hands. Pasting a customer's details into an outside AI service is, in substance, that kind of transfer.

The security agency expects a policy. The Canadian Centre for Cyber Security warns that users may unknowingly put sensitive business data or personal information into prompts. Among its recommendations: have a usage policy with oversight and review, consider whether an AI tool is actually needed for the task, and protect accounts with multi-factor authentication.

A model worth borrowing

The Government of Canada's own Guide on the use of generative AI, written for federal institutions, is one of the clearest documents on the subject. It sums up its approach in six principles, spelled FASTER:

• Fair: make sure content from these tools does not include or amplify biases.
• Accountable: take responsibility for the content generated and the impacts of using it.
• Secure: make sure the tools are appropriate for the sensitivity of the information.
• Transparent: identify content produced with generative AI, and tell people when they are interacting with an AI tool.
• Educated: learn the strengths, limitations and responsible use of the tools.
• Relevant: use the tools where they support real user and organizational needs.

Two of its rules translate directly to a small business. The first is about input: public servants must not put personal information into publicly available online AI tools, because the supplier might store a copy. The second is about output. The guide warns that these tools can produce content that looks credible and is wrong, and it is plain about what to do: do not treat generated content as authoritative, and if you cannot confirm its quality, do not use it.

Know what your tools do with your chats

Each of the major chat tools has a setting that governs whether your conversations can be used to improve its models, and the business versions usually handle this differently from the consumer ones. As their own help pages describe it at the time of writing:

• OpenAI: individual users of its chat app can turn off "Improve the model for everyone" under Data controls. OpenAI says its business, enterprise and education workspaces are not used for training by default. Temporary chats are not used for training.
• Claude: users of Anthropic's consumer plans choose in their privacy settings whether chats may be used to improve its models. Its commercial plans are not covered by that consumer setting.
• Gemini: turning off Keep Activity stops future chats from being used to improve Google's AI, though Google keeps chats for a short period regardless. On work accounts, an administrator controls the setting. Google's own advice is not to enter confidential information you would not want a reviewer to see.

These settings change. Check them when you adopt a tool, and again when its terms change.

The one-page policy

Adapt the wording, keep the structure, and have everyone read and sign it.

1. Approved tools. We use only these AI tools: [list], on these accounts: [business accounts where available]. New tools are added by [owner or manager] after checking their data settings.

2. Never paste. The following never go into an AI tool:

• personal information about customers, staff or anyone else: names with contact details, addresses, health details, identification numbers;
• passwords, access codes, API keys or financial account numbers;
• anything a customer or partner gave us in confidence, such as contracts or pricing, unless the tool is approved for it in writing.

When in doubt, remove the names and specifics first, or do not use the tool.

3. Settings. Model-training settings are turned off on every account that allows it. Accounts use multi-factor authentication.

4. A person owns every output. Whoever uses the tool is responsible for the result as if they wrote it alone. Facts, figures, dates, prices, legal or tax statements and quotations are checked against an original source before anything leaves the business. If it cannot be checked, it is not used.

5. Say when it matters. Where a customer would reasonably want to know, such as published writing or an automated chat on our website, we say that AI was used.

6. Fit for purpose. We use AI tools where they save time on drafts, summaries and routine writing, not as a substitute for our own judgment.

7. Review. This policy is reviewed every six months, and whenever we add a tool.

Why a page is enough

A small team does not need a governance framework. It needs everyone to know three things: which tools are allowed, what never goes into them, and that a person checks what comes out. Written down once, those three answers cover what the guidance above is most concerned about.

Drafted with AI assistance.

This guide covers five, with what each is good for and when it runs. Days and hours were checked in late September 2026 against each market's own page or the City's. Seasonal markets change their dates from year to year, so confirm on the market's site before a special trip.

St. Lawrence Market: the everyday one

Where: Front Street East at Jarvis Street, Old Town. When: the South Market is open six days a week, Tuesday to Sunday, and closed on Mondays; the market lists 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays, 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays. The Saturday farmers' market in the North building starts early, at 5 a.m.

St. Lawrence works for ordinary shopping as well as for visitors: butchers, fishmongers, cheese, bakeries and produce under one roof, in the South Market building. The City of Toronto owns and manages the district, which it describes as three buildings: St. Lawrence Hall, the South Market and the North Market.

The North building, across Front Street from the South Market, is new. It was rebuilt and hosted its first Saturday farmers' market on April 5, 2025, with a grand opening event on May 10, 2025. On Saturdays it holds the farmers' market. On Sundays it now hosts Antiques at St. Lawrence Market, a weekly antiques market run by an outside organizer, which the market lists from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., with free admission and no market on the last Sunday of each month.

How to use it: go on a weekday for the South Market without the crowds. Go early on Saturday if the farmers' market is the point; the best of it goes first. It is a short walk from King or Union stations.

Kensington Market: the neighbourhood

Where: the blocks west of Spadina Avenue, roughly between College and Dundas streets. When: every day; shops keep their own hours.

Kensington is not a single market but a neighbourhood of small independent shops, grocers, bakeries, cafés and vintage stores on narrow streets. Parks Canada lists it as a National Historic Site of Canada. It is best for wandering, for food from many countries in a few blocks, and for independent shops of a kind that are hard to find elsewhere downtown.

Pedestrian Sundays are its best-known event: on the last Sunday of the month in the warm season, Augusta Avenue closes to cars and the street fills with people, music and stalls. The 2026 series runs from noon to 7 p.m., with remaining dates on September 27 and October 25.

How to use it: come on foot, by the College or Dundas streetcars or the Spadina streetcar. Parking is scarce and the streets are narrow.

Evergreen Brick Works: the farmers' market in a ravine

Where: 550 Bayview Avenue, in the Don Valley. When: Saturday mornings, year-round. The market is outdoors from May to October and moves indoors from November to April.

The Brick Works is a former brickworks in the Don Valley, now run as a public space by the charity Evergreen. The Saturday market is set among the old industrial buildings, with trails into the valley around it. It is a good morning out rather than a quick errand.

How to use it: the site sits at the bottom of the valley and is awkward to reach on foot. Evergreen runs a free shuttle from Broadview subway station, and the TTC's 28 Bayview South bus runs from Davisville station. Start time on Saturdays has been listed as both 8 a.m. and 9 a.m.; check Evergreen's page before going.

Wychwood Barns: the neighbourhood farmers' market

Where: 601 Christie Street, near St. Clair Avenue West. When: Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., year-round; outdoors from May to October, inside the barn from November to April.

The Wychwood Barns are former streetcar repair barns converted into an arts and community centre. The Saturday market is run by The Stop Community Food Centre, a local charity, and has the feel of a neighbourhood market: farmers, bakers and prepared food, with Wychwood Barns Park next door for children.

How to use it: take the 512 St. Clair streetcar. Pair it with a walk through the surrounding streets.

Trinity Bellwoods: the weeknight one

Where: the northwest corner of Trinity Bellwoods Park, near Dundas Street West and Shaw Street. When: Tuesdays, 3 p.m. to 7 p.m., rain or shine, through the growing season. The 2026 season runs from May 5 to October 27.

A small, after-work market on the edge of one of the city's busiest parks. It is the answer to "where can I buy produce from a farmer on a weekday?" in the west end.

How to use it: the 505 Dundas streetcar stops beside the park.

One that has closed

The Nathan Phillips Square Farmers' Market, which ran on Wednesdays outside City Hall, has closed; its organizers announced the decision on the market's website. Older guides still list it.

Picking one

A last practical note: bring a bag or two of your own, and some cash in case a small stall does not take cards.

Drafted with AI assistance.

The system is large. According to the City, Toronto's ravines extend more than 300 kilometres and cover 11,000 hectares, about 17 per cent of the city's land area. More than half of the system is publicly owned parkland. You do not need a car to reach it: several of the City's walking routes start at subway stations.

This note is a starting kit: four routes, how to reach them, and what the City and the conservation authority ask of walkers.

Start with a Discovery Walk

The City publishes a set of self-guided Discovery Walks, each with a printable route map, an estimated time, an interest (ravines, history, architecture) and the nearest TTC station. They are the easiest way in, because someone has already solved the hardest problem for a first visit: where to enter and how to get back out. Four good ones to begin with:

Don Valley Hills & Dales. Start at Broadview station. The walk makes two overlapping loops through the Lower Don Valley. Along the way you can visit Riverdale Farm, the Prince Edward (Bloor Street) Viaduct, Chester Springs Marsh and Todmorden Mills, with side trips into Cabbagetown and Rosedale. The City estimates two hours or longer.

Humber River, Old Mill & Marshes. Start at Old Mill station. The route loops through the Humber River valley from roughly Bloor Street south to Lake Ontario, past the historic Old Mill and Old Mill Bridge, through riverside parkland and on to the river's marshes. Also two hours or longer.

Western Ravines & Beaches. Start and finish at High Park station. The route runs through High Park to the Western Beaches boardwalk, the Sunnyside Bathing Pavilion and the Humber bridge for cyclists and pedestrians, then back through Rennie Park ravine and the Swansea neighbourhood.

Garrison Creek. Start at Christie Pits, across from Christie station. This one follows a ravine that is no longer there. Garrison Creek once ran in a deep valley from north of St. Clair Avenue to the lake; it is now buried. The walk traces its line south through parks including Trinity Bellwoods to Fort York, built at the creek's mouth in 1793. It is the shortest of the four, one to two hours by the City's estimate, and the best introduction to how much of Toronto's shape comes from its water.

The full set includes walks in the northern ravines near Lawrence station and the eastern ravines toward the Beaches. All of them are on the City's Discovery Walks page.

If you want scale: the Rouge

At the city's eastern edge is Rouge National Urban Park, run by Parks Canada rather than the City. Parks Canada describes it as the largest urban park of its kind in North America, at 79.1 square kilometres once fully complete, and close to 50 times the size of High Park. It is a larger outing than the walks above; plan it with Parks Canada's own visitor information.

Go during Ravine Days

Every autumn the City runs Ravine Days, a city-wide series of guided walks, workshops and self-guided activities in the ravines, held each year since 2017. In 2026 it runs from September 26 to October 18. It is a good time for a first visit: the leaves are turning, and there are guides.

What the City and the conservation authority ask

The City's Ravine Days guidance and the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority's safety tips cover the same practical ground:

• Stay on official trails. Both say so plainly. Staying on them protects the slopes, plants and wildlife, and keeps you on ground built for walking.
• Go in daylight. Many ravine trails are deliberately unlit, to limit light's effect on wildlife.
• Avoid storms. Heavy rain can cause flooding and bring down branches. Check the weather first.
• Bring water and plan washroom stops. Many ravines have no easy access to either.
• Dress for the ground and the plants. Wear running shoes or hiking boots for stairs, slopes and uneven surfaces, and long pants and sleeves against poison ivy, giant hogweed and ticks. TRCA notes that black-legged ticks can carry Lyme disease, so check yourself afterwards.
• Do not feed wildlife.
• Expect patchy cell reception in parts of the valleys, and tell someone your route if you go alone.

Dogs

Dogs must be on a leash in Toronto parks except in designated off-leash areas. The City lists a fine of up to $615 for letting a dog run off-leash elsewhere, so a ravine trail is on-leash unless it is a designated off-leash area.

The ravines are protected

The City protects ravines through Chapter 658 of the Municipal Code, the Ravine and Natural Feature Protection by-law. In protected areas, it requires a permit to injure or remove trees, dump fill or refuse, or change the grade of the land. For walkers, the practical meaning is simple: take nothing, leave nothing, and do not cut new paths.

The City's Ravine Strategy, backed by an implementation plan adopted by City Council in January 2020, sets out a ten-year program to clean up and protect the system, including added funding for restoration and invasive-species control. Volunteering with those efforts is another way in.

A first outing, planned

1. Pick one Discovery Walk and print or save its map.
2. Take the subway to the station it names.
3. Go on a dry morning, in proper shoes, with water.
4. Stay on the marked trail and leave it as you found it.
5. Allow two hours, and more if you stop, which you will.

Drafted with AI assistance.