Privacy & Cookie Policy

Who is responsible for your data

This site is run by Aleksandr, a private individual based in Georgia, who decides how the limited data described on this page is used. Under data-protection law he is the controller of that data. For anything about your data, write to info@canada-guidebook.com.

What we collect

We use Google Analytics 4 to understand which articles readers find useful - for example, which pages are visited and roughly which country a visit comes from. This is aggregate, statistical data; we don’t use it to identify you personally.

In the EU/EEA, the UK and Switzerland analytics runs only after you agree to it: until you accept the cookie banner, analytics is switched off and no analytics cookies are set (Google Consent Mode v2, default “denied”). If you decline, the site works exactly the same - we simply collect no analytics. Elsewhere, where prior opt-in isn’t legally required, analytics is on by default, and you can switch it off at any time via “Cookie settings” in the footer.

Cookies we use

Analytics cookies (set by Google Analytics, such as _ga), only after you accept where consent is required. They help us count visits and see which content works. You can clear them at any time in your browser.

Your consent choice is stored locally in your browser so the banner doesn’t ask again on every page. It stays on your device and isn’t sent to us.

A small technical first-party cookie (cc_region, 30 days) remembers only whether your region requires prior opt-in; it contains no personal data.

We don’t use advertising, social-media, or other tracking cookies beyond the analytics described above.

Affiliate links

Some outbound links to partners - for example car rental, transfers, insurance, tours, or hotels - are affiliate links. If you book through them we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you; this is how the guide pays for itself. We only point to services we consider worth it, and a commission never changes our selection.

When you follow such a link you leave this site, and the partner’s own privacy policy and cookies then apply. We have no control over how partners process your data.

Third-party services

Google Analytics processes the analytics data described above; see Google’s own privacy policy for details.

The site is hosted by Cloudflare, which processes technical request logs (such as your IP address) to deliver pages and protect against abuse.

The site shows live weather, which your browser fetches directly from Open-Meteo (open-meteo.com). Like any web request, this shows your IP address to those services; no cookies or identifiers from this site are sent.

Google and Cloudflare are based in the United States and may process data there and in other countries. For data from the EU/EEA, the UK and Switzerland, both rely on the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework (with its UK and Swiss extensions) and, where it does not apply, on the European Commission’s standard contractual clauses.

Legal bases

Analytics: in the EU/EEA, the UK and Switzerland, your consent, which you can withdraw at any time; elsewhere, our legitimate interest in knowing which pages help readers, and you can switch it off via “Cookie settings”.

Technical request logs, your stored consent choice and the cc_region cookie: our legitimate interest in delivering the site securely and remembering your choice.

Emails: our legitimate interest in answering you and handling notices such as copyright complaints.

How long we keep data

Google Analytics keeps event-level data for 2 months and user-level data for 14 months; each new visit starts the 14 months again. Reports made only of totals, which no longer relate to anyone, can be kept longer.

Request logs are kept for 7 days in our Cloudflare account; Cloudflare keeps its own logs under its own privacy policy.

Your consent choice stays in your browser until you clear it; the cc_region cookie expires after 30 days.

Emails are kept for no longer than two years after the last message, then deleted.

Your choices and rights

You can accept or decline analytics in the cookie banner, and change your mind at any time via “Cookie settings” in the footer. In the EU/EEA, the UK and Switzerland, clearing this site’s data in your browser also makes the banner appear again.

You can also block or delete cookies in your browser settings, or use Google’s analytics opt-out browser add-on.

Depending on where you live (for example Canada under PIPEDA, the EU, or the UK), data-protection law gives you rights over your personal data, such as access or erasure. Because this site keeps little personal data of its own, these mainly concern consent-based analytics - and you can withdraw consent at any time as described above. For any request, email us (below).

In full, you can ask to see the personal data we hold about you, have it corrected or deleted, limit or object to its use, and receive it in a portable form; withdrawing consent doesn’t affect what was done before. If you think we have handled your data wrongly, you can complain to the data-protection authority where you live or work (in Canada, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada; in the UK, the Information Commissioner’s Office) or to the Personal Data Protection Service of Georgia, where the site is run from.

If you email us

If you write to us, for example with a question or a copyright notice, we keep your message and email address only to answer it, and for no longer than two years after the last message. We forward a notice about a tour listing supplied by a booking partner to that partner, together with your contact details, because the partner handles its own listings.

Letters to our address are passed on by Cloudflare Email Routing to a mailbox at Google (Gmail), so both providers process them.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as the site evolves; the date above shows the last revision. Significant changes will be reflected on this page.