Plumber.News is a newsroom for people who own or run plumbing companies in Canada. Each story starts from a public, dated source, such as a code publisher, a provincial ministry, Statistics Canada or a municipal water utility, and explains what changed and why it matters to your crews, your quotes and your marketing. We are a marketing and business consulting service, not a plumbing contractor, so we report on the trade; we don't do plumbing work.
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Building permits rose 8.8% to $13.6 billion in August 2026, led by multi-unit housing
Statistics Canada reported on October 14, 2026 that the value of building permits rose $1.1 billion to $13.6 billion in August, almost all of it from multi-unit residential permits.
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Toronto's 2025 lead mitigation report: about 13,664 city-side lead services remain
Toronto Water's annual lead report for 2025, posted in May 2026, estimates that about 13,664 public-side lead water services were left at the end of 2025 and repeats the public health advice to replace both sides of a lead service together.
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Environmental claims and the Competition Act after Bill C-15: a note for plumbing advertisers
On March 26, 2026, Bill C-15 received Royal Assent and removed the Competition Act's requirement that environmental claims about a business be backed by an internationally recognized methodology. The general ban on misleading advertising still applies.
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The 2025 National Plumbing Code of Canada is published: the changes plumbing owners should know
The National Research Council released the 2025 National Plumbing Code of Canada in December 2025. It is not in force anywhere until a province or territory adopts it, but the changes will reach your crews and your quotes.
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Apprentice registrations reached a record in 2024; plumbers helped lift BC certifications
Statistics Canada reported 101,541 new apprenticeship registrations in 2024, the highest since the series began in 2008, while certifications were nearly flat at 46,971. Plumbers, pipefitters and steamfitters were named as a driver in Alberta and BC.
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BC Codes 2024: what the province's plumbing code is made of, and the dates that apply
British Columbia's 2024 codes came into effect on March 8, 2024. The BC Plumbing Code 2024 is the National Plumbing Code plus BC amendments, and the province has extended the effective date for in-stream projects to March 8, 2027.
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BC plumber Red Seal exams now follow the 2023 occupational standard
Since April 25, 2025, plumber candidates writing the interprovincial Red Seal exam through SkilledTradesBC get an exam aligned to the 2023 Plumber Red Seal Occupational Standard, with the 2020 National Plumbing Code supplied.
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Ontario's 2024 Building Code is in force: what plumbing companies should know
Ontario's 2024 Building Code came into effect on January 1, 2025, and every permit application since April 1, 2025 has had to use it. Part 7, the plumbing part, was among those revised.
How we report
The short version: primary sources only, real dates, no invented quotes.
- Every article links its source in the text and lists it with a date at the end.
- The published date is the source's date. If a ministry page was published in 2024, that is the date you'll see.
- We don't quote people we haven't spoken to, and we don't publish numbers we can't trace.
- When something can't be confirmed, we say so. Our story on the 2025 national code notes that one provincial adoption date came from trade press and wasn't on an official page when we checked.
- We summarise; we don't advise on compliance. Regulators are named and linked.
Current stories
Codes and standards
- The 2025 National Plumbing Code is published (NRC, December 2025): condensate drainage, labelled storm and sanitary lines, potable water protection.
- Ontario's 2024 Building Code is in force (Ontario, published May 2024): the transition dates and the new two-document structure.
- BC Codes 2024 and the BC Plumbing Code (BC, March 2025): how BC builds on the national code, and the 2027 in-stream deadline.
Trades and workforce
- BC plumber Red Seal exams follow the 2023 standard (SkilledTradesBC, February 2025).
- Apprentice registrations reached a record in 2024 (Statistics Canada, December 2025).
Water, market and advertising
- Toronto's 2025 lead mitigation report (City of Toronto, May 2026): about 13,664 city-side lead services left.
- Building permits rose to $13.6 billion in August 2026 (Statistics Canada, October 2026).
- Environmental claims after Bill C-15 (Competition Bureau, March 2026): what plumbing ads can and can't say about efficiency.
Why a marketing firm runs a plumbing newsroom
Because news is where good plumbing marketing starts. When a code changes or a city announces a lead pipe program, homeowners, property managers and builders start searching. The plumbing company that explains the change clearly, with a link to the source and a date, earns the visit and often the call.
We use the same discipline for clients. Our industry content service turns this kind of news into plain-language pages on a plumbing company's own site. The services overview explains how that fits with local search, ads and websites.
Reading these stories by province
Plumbing is regulated provincially and often municipally, so the same national change lands differently in each place. Our coverage pages bring together, for each province and the territories, the code and safety authorities, apprenticeship bodies, energy programs that touch plumbing (such as water heater rebates where they exist), and local construction signals from Statistics Canada.
If you work in more than one province, read the national story first, then the province page for each market.
Who reads Plumber.News
Mostly owners, general managers and office leads at plumbing companies of every size, from a single van to multi-branch firms with commercial divisions. Some readers run combined plumbing and heating businesses; others are wholesalers and suppliers who want to know what their contractor customers are dealing with. The common thread is that they need the facts quickly, with the source one click away.
Corrections and updates
Programs and pages change. If a source we cite is updated, we revise the story and the "updated" date at the top. If we got something wrong, tell us by call, text or email with the official link, and we will correct it and say so. Questions about working with us belong on the contact page, and the people behind the newsroom are on the about page.
Frequently asked questions
How do you choose which stories to cover?
We cover changes that affect how a Canadian plumbing company works, hires or markets: codes, certification, municipal water programs, construction data and advertising law. Each story must rest on an official or primary source we can link.
Why is the published date sometimes months ago?
We use the date of the source itself, not the date we wrote about it. A code page dated in 2025 is still the governing source in late 2026, and the date tells you how fresh the information is.
Is this compliance advice?
No. We summarise and link official sources. Plumbing compliance questions belong with your provincial code authority, your municipal building department or a qualified professional.
Can I suggest a story?
Yes. Call, text or email with a link to the official source, and we will read it. We only publish what we can verify.