Canada's 2026 prompt payment changes: Ontario, BC and Alberta

The payment clock changed in three provinces at once, and most subcontractors have not caught up. Ontario's Construction Act amendments came into force on January 1, 2026. British Columbia passed a prompt payment act that received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025 and is waiting on regulations to set its start date. Alberta amended its prompt payment regulation on November 26, 2025. If you work in any of these provinces, the rules about when you have to be paid, and when your holdback comes back, are not the rules you learned three years ago.

We build SubTrade inside Quality Gypsum Services, a commercial drywall contractor in Calgary, Alberta, so this is not an abstract legal topic for us. Prompt payment and holdback are the difference between making payroll on time and floating a general contractor's cash flow with our own. Here is what actually changed, province by province, and what a subcontractor should do about it. None of this is legal advice, and the details matter, so confirm your own project against the statute or a construction lawyer before you rely on it.

The core mechanic: prompt payment timelines by tier

All three provinces share the same basic structure, borrowed from the federal model and Ontario's original 2019 regime. Payment flows down the contract chain on a clock that starts with a "proper invoice."

The proper invoice is the trigger for the whole sequence, which is why the definition of "proper" matters so much, and why it differs between provinces. Get the invoice wrong and the 28 day clock never starts.

Ontario: what changed on January 1, 2026

Ontario made the biggest move. Two changes stand out for subcontractors.

Annual holdback release is now mandatory on every contract

Under the old rules, the annual release of the accrued 10 percent holdback only applied to contracts over a certain value and duration. That threshold is gone. Now, on any contract that runs longer than a year, the owner must release the accrued holdback on each anniversary of the contract, regardless of the contract's size. Your holdback no longer has to sit untouched until substantial completion of a multi-year job.

The mechanics are specific. The owner publishes a prescribed notice, Form 6, the Notice of Annual Release of Holdback, within 14 days after each contract anniversary. The holdback is then paid out at least 60 days but no later than 74 days after that notice is published, provided no lien has been preserved against it in the meantime. Each tier below then has to pass its share down within 14 days of receiving it.

That is worth reading twice, because the 14 day figure is easy to misread. The owner does not pay holdback in 14 days. The owner publishes the notice within 14 days of the anniversary, then pays 60 to 74 days later. The 14 day window is the downstream release: once a general contractor receives its holdback, it has 14 days to release yours. If you want to see what accrues on a given contract value, our construction holdback calculator runs the numbers.

Adjudication got broader and faster to reach

Ontario's interim dispute process, adjudication, was previously aimed mainly at payment disputes. The 2026 amendments expand what you can take to an adjudicator to include change orders and changes to the contract price, disputes over scope, and requests for an extension of time. Multiple related disputes on the same project can now be consolidated. Parties can also jointly appoint their own qualified adjudicator rather than being limited to the nominating authority. And the window to start an adjudication now runs up to 90 days after the contract is completed, abandoned or terminated.

For a sub, that matters because the two things that most often stall your money, an unpaid change order and a fight over time, are now squarely inside the fast track. We cover how the process works in our guide to construction adjudication in Canada.

British Columbia: what is coming, and what is not here yet

British Columbia's Construction Prompt Payment Act received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025. This is the part almost every summary gets wrong, so read it carefully: as of this writing, the Act is not yet in force. The government still has to release the regulations that set the start date, and the Act will only apply to contracts entered into on or after that date. Do not assume BC's prompt payment rules govern your current jobs. Watch for the in-force date.

When it does start, the shape is familiar. The owner pays the general contractor 28 days after a proper invoice, and payment then flows down each tier within 7 days. An invoice is deemed proper unless the owner objects in writing within 7 days, and proper invoices default to monthly unless the contract says otherwise.

BC's adjudication timeline, as enacted, appoints an adjudicator quickly, within roughly 11 days of a dispute being referred, with a decision due around 35 days after appointment. Treat those numbers as close but not final, because the exact figures depend on regulations that have not been published yet.

The Act also comes with Builders Lien Act changes. The holdback period shortens from 55 days to 46 days, and the old separate lien against the holdback is eliminated, leaving a single lien against the land. The statutory holdback stays at 10 percent.

Alberta: the November 2025 clarification

Alberta has run under its Prompt Payment and Construction Lien Act since 2022, and on November 26, 2025 it amended the supporting regulation. The change is narrower than Ontario's, but worth knowing. It clarifies that when regulated consultants, engineers and architects, waive their lien rights, they also waive their entitlement to the associated statutory holdback, which releases the owner from having to retain that holdback for them. If you are a trade sub, this is not about you directly, but it changes how holdback is administered on projects with design consultants in the chain.

The more important Alberta point for a subcontractor is one that has not changed and still trips people up: the proper invoice rule.

Alberta's "proper invoice" trap

In Ontario and BC, an invoice is deemed proper unless the owner objects within 7 days. Alberta does not work that way. In Alberta, a proper invoice must explicitly state that it is intended to be a proper invoice. There is no automatic deeming. If your invoice does not say so, the prompt payment clock may never start, and you can wait far longer than 28 days with no recourse under the Act. This is the single easiest prompt payment mistake to make in Alberta, and the easiest to fix: standardize the language on every invoice. Alberta's own prompt payment rules spell out the requirements.

Alberta's timelines otherwise match the national pattern: 28 calendar days owner to contractor, 7 days down each tier, on a 10 percent holdback.

The "proper invoice" checklist

Because the invoice is what starts every clock in every province, it is worth making yours bulletproof. A proper invoice generally needs the contractor's name and address, the date and the period of work, a description of the work or materials, the amount due and payment terms, the name of the authority requiring payment, and, in Alberta, an explicit statement that it is a proper invoice. Send it to the right person, on the schedule the contract requires, and keep the backup, your schedule of values progress, daily logs and photos, attached so nobody has a reason to call it deficient.

What a subcontractor should do now

You do not need a law degree to protect yourself from these changes. You need a few habits.

1. Calendar your holdback anniversaries. On any Ontario contract running longer than a year, the annual release is now automatic, but only if someone is tracking the anniversary and watching for the Form 6 notice. Put it on the schedule.
2. Standardize your proper invoice language, especially in Alberta, where the invoice must say it is a proper invoice or the clock does not start.
3. Track every payment deadline per project. Twenty eight days, seven days, the fallbacks: these are enforceable dates, not suggestions, and interest runs when they are missed.
4. Keep your invoice backup tight, so nobody can reset the clock by calling your invoice deficient.
5. In BC, watch for the in-force date before assuming the new rules apply.

Software helps here only because the alternative is a spreadsheet nobody updates. Tracking holdback per project, flagging payment deadlines, and keeping the invoice backup in one place is exactly what a system built for subs should do, and it is part of how we think about progress billing. SubTrade starts at $299/month CAD with a 14-day free trial and no credit card required.

For the deeper mechanics of holdback across the country, our post on holdback by province breaks down the percentages and release rules, and why holdback release gets delayed covers what to do when the money does not show up on time.

FAQ

What is the biggest 2026 prompt payment change for subcontractors?

In Ontario, annual holdback release became mandatory on every contract that runs longer than a year, with the old value threshold removed. That means the accrued 10 percent holdback on a multi-year job is released each contract anniversary instead of being locked up until substantial completion. It is a real cash flow improvement if you track the anniversaries.

Is British Columbia's prompt payment law in force yet?

Not as of this writing. BC's Construction Prompt Payment Act received Royal Assent on November 27, 2025, but it needs regulations to set a start date and will only apply to contracts entered into on or after that date. Watch for the in-force announcement before assuming it governs your projects.

How fast does an owner have to pay in Ontario, BC and Alberta?

In all three, the owner pays the general contractor 28 days after a proper invoice, and payment then flows down each tier within 7 days of being received. There are fallback deadlines, around 35 and 42 days, that require a subcontractor to be paid even if the money has not come down from the owner, provided the right non-payment notices are given.

Why does my invoice have to say it is a "proper invoice" in Alberta?

Because Alberta does not automatically deem an invoice proper the way Ontario and BC do. In Alberta the invoicing party carries the onus, and the invoice must explicitly state it is intended to be a proper invoice. Leave that out and the prompt payment clock may not start at all.

What can I take to adjudication in Ontario now?

More than before. The 2026 amendments expanded adjudication beyond payment disputes to include change orders and changes in the contract price, scope disputes, and extension of time requests, with related disputes able to be consolidated. You now also have up to 90 days after a contract ends to commence one.

Did the holdback percentage change?

No. The statutory holdback remains 10 percent in Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta. What changed is how and when it is released, most notably Ontario's mandatory annual release and BC's shorter 46 day holdback period once its Act is in force.