Privacy Policy

Protection of privacy is paramount and the Municipality of Port Hope is committed to protecting the privacy of those who visit its website. This Privacy Statement summarizes the practices with respect to the collection of personal information through its website. By visiting porthope.ca and visitporthope.ca, visitors are accepting the practices described in this statement.

Port Hope Website/Social Media Terms of Use

Every effort is made to ensure the information on the Municipality of Port Hope's website is timely and accurate however, due to circumstances beyond our control, information and dates are subject to change without notice. The Municipality of Port Hope offers no guarantee regarding the accuracy of the information on these pages. All such documents are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind and the Municipality does not make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results or reliability of the use of the materials on this website. The Municipality of Port Hope hereby disclaims all representations and warranties.

For general questions, technical questions and information regarding this site, please contact the Municipality of Port Hope's website team at communications@porthope.ca

Google Analytics and Google Signals

We use Google Analytics and Google Signals to analyze user behaviour on our website. Google Signals is a feature of Google Analytics that allows for collection of cross-device data from signed-in Google users. When a Google user has Ads Personalization turned on, Google Signals provides aggregated and anonymized insights into user behaviour across devices. This information may include end user location, search history, and data from other websites that partner with Google. Google Signals helps us understand how you interact with our website across multiple devices and sessions so we have an accurate account of the number of users who visit our website, and what they find most useful.

You can opt out of Google Analytics and Google Signals by installing this opt-out browser add-on for Google Analytics. Users can also manage their Google Ads Settings to control the information used for personalized ads across devices.

Links to Third Party Sites

A third party link, generally opening a new browser window, is provided for the convenience of the visitor. Inclusion of the link does not imply endorsement by The Corporation and the Municipality accepts no responsibility for the content found on any third party website. Links are subject to the approval of the Chief Administrative Officer or appropriate Department Director and may be removed without notice at the discretion of the department. Factors affecting approval or removal may include business case considerations, an assessment of the needs of the intended audience, the relevance to the Municipality or appropriate department and technical or legal considerations.

Municipal Logos

The Municipality of Port Hope logo and slogans are registered trademarks of the Corporation of the Municipality of Port Hope. Any reproduction of these logos and slogans, other than for municipal use, licensed programs of the Municipality of Port Hope or with the Municipality of Port Hope's expressed permission is prohibited. These include, but are not limited to the Corporate logo and any other graphic representation sanctioned by the Municipality.

Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.All requests for use of Municipal data must be made through the Corporate Services Department and all authorized users must sign a data sharing agreement permitting specific use for a specific period of time and must be relevant to a municipal project, partnership or other activity authorized by Municipal Council.

For information regarding the Municipality of Port Hope's logo, slogans and their usage, contact the Corporate Services Department at 905-885-4544.

Social Media User Agreement

The Municipality of Port Hope does not necessarily endorse, support, sanction, encourage, verify or agree with the comments, opinions, or statements posted on our social media websites, including but not limited to Facebook, Twitter, and YouTUBE. Any information or material placed on these sites, including advice and opinions, are the views and responsibility of those making the comments and do not necessarily represent the views of the Municipality. By submitting a comment for posting, the user agrees that the Municipality of Port Hope is not responsible, and shall have no liability with respect to any information or materials posted by others, including defamatory, offensive or illicit material, even material that violates this Agreement.

By posting content, the user agrees to indemnify the Municipality and its Staff from and against all liabilities, judgments, damages and costs (including legal fees) which arise out of or are related to the posted content.

The Municipality reserves the right to remove, edit or modify any submissions in response to requests for feedback or other commentary. All postings containing prohibited content will be removed. The Municipality reserves the right to bar anyone in violation of this policy from posting on Municipal social media sites.
Social media managed by the Municipality may contain links to content on other internet sites. The Municipality is not responsible for the reliability or accuracy of content managed within these links. Patrons accessing any user generated resources should do so at their own risk.
The Municipality of Port Hope is committed to protecting privacy. However, privacy does not extend to public forums, including social media applications where a user may choose to identify him or herself. By posting content in a public forum, the user acknowledges that he or she may forfeit any expectation of privacy. As with more traditional resources the Municipality of Port Hope does not act in place of or in the absence of a parent and is not responsible for enforcing any restrictions which a parent or guardian may place on a minor’s use of this resource.
Reference herein to any specific commercial products, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favouring by the Municipality of Port Hope and shall not be used for advertising or product endorsement purposes.

Providing Personal Information via Municipal Website

The Corporation of the Municipality of Port Hope is committed to protecting the privacy of all visitors to our site. We have taken appropriate measures to protect and ensure the privacy of any personal information you provide. The Municipality is subject to the provisions of the Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection Act (MFIPPA) and the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA). The Corporation of the Municipality of Port Hope will not, under any circumstances, use any information provided by visitors for any purpose inconsistent with the purpose for which the information was collected and shall be public information. Names and addresses shall be included and shall be shared as submitted as part of the public record and subject to MFIPPA provisions. Personal information such as telephone numbers and personal email addresses shall be not be disclosed in accordance with the provisions of MFIPPA.

Most of the information accessible on the Municipality's website does not require you to identify yourself. You may access it anonymously. However, the Municipality of Port Hope does collect personal information about you when you choose to provide it. We collect only as much personal information as is necessary to assist you in conducting business with the Municipality via the website. The only personal identifying information arising from your use of the Municipality of Port Hope's website is what you voluntarily supply. The Municipality does attempt to provide you with multiple "channels" for conducting business (ie telephone, walk-in, mail-in, and fax-in) in addition to the Municipality of Port Hope's website. If you have concerns about using the website to conduct your business with us, please be assured that there are alternate channels you may elect to utilize.

Personal information is collected to:

Communicate with you regarding services that you have requested
Meet legal and regulatory requirements
Correct/change personal Information

If your personal information changes (eg. name, address, postal code, telephone number, email address etc.) or you no longer desire our service, the Municipality of Port Hope will endeavour to provide a way to correct, update or remove the information.

Use and Disclosure of Personal Information

The Municipality of Port Hope is the sole owner of the information collected on the site. The Municipality does not use or retain personal information that you provide for any secondary purposes unless you have first been notified and your permission has been obtained. The Municipality of Port Hope will not sell, rent, share or otherwise disclose your personal information to any organization or individual outside the Municipality unless you are first notified and your permission is received, except in the following circumstances. The Municipality of Port Hope may disclose your personal information:

To companies contracted to process your requests
For law enforcement purposes
For purposes of acting in an emergency to facilitate contact with your next of kin or friend if you become injured or take ill.

From time to time the Municipality's website may request information from you via surveys or ask permission to send you special offers. Your participation will be completely voluntary and you will have a choice of whether or not to participate. Any survey information will be used solely for the purposes of monitoring and/or improving the Municipality of Port Hope's services and products. If you choose not to participate, you will still be able to use the website.

Protection of Personal Information

The Municipality of Port Hope takes every precaution to protect your personal information on the website. We maintain security standards and procedures regarding unauthorized access to customer information to prevent unauthorized removal or alteration of data.

Information Collected Automatically

When you browse our website, some information may be collected and stored automatically. This may include:

Internet Protocol (IP) address, assigned by your Internet Service Provider (ISP)
Domain name
The type of your browser and operating system you use
The date, time and pages you visited and/or requested while on our website
"Search terms" entered by website visitors

Use of Cookies and Tracking Tools

We use the following tracking tools to better understand how our visitors use our website, and based on this understanding, may provide user-centric advertising to visitors after they leave.

The data we collect is anonymized, is not personally identifiable, and is thus also utilized by our regional partners, and key tourism industry stakeholders, offering a stronger user experience to our visitors through the promotion of like-minded experiences while on our site, and after they leave.

Websites, social media platforms, and search engines display advertising to users based on online intent and behaviour. The online intent and behaviour visitors display on our site / social media platforms allow us to tailor our advertising, and that of our partners, to you based on your interests.

The websites, social media platforms, and search engines you visit utilize cookies and device identifiers to identify your interest – our site, and social media platforms do the same.

Utilizing cookies, and device identifiers, our advertising, that of our regional partners, and key tourism stakeholders may be displayed on websites, social media platforms, and search engines you visit after you leave our site.

To better develop the regional tourism experience for our users we have entered into an independent agreement with our regional partners, and key tourism stakeholders, to share our audiences and bring a more collaborative, user-centric experience to tourism advertising. No personally identifiable information (PII) is shared or sold to third parties.

What are cookies?

A cookie is a small piece of text sent to your browser by a website you visit. It helps the website to remember information about your visit, like your preferred language and other settings. That can make your next visit easier and the site more useful to you. Cookies play an important role. Without them, using the web would be a much more frustrating experience.

How do we use cookies?

We use cookies to make advertising more engaging to users and more valuable to publishers and advertisers. Some common applications of cookies are to select advertising based on what is relevant to a user; to improve reporting on campaign performance; and to avoid showing ads the user has already seen.

If you would like to opt-out of cookies, and device identifiers:

If you would like to opt-out of all, or part, of the tracking we have in place to allow us to generate regional tourism related advertising to our site and social media platform visitors you can do so below:

To control the use of cookies – please visit:

To control the use of device identifiers:
Please adjust your device settings

Terms of Use and Privacy Statement

Concerns regarding Access to information and any related privacy issues should be directed to:

Director of Corporate Services / Clerk
Municipality of Port Hope

56 Queen Street
Port Hope, Ontario L1A 3Z9
phone: 905-885-4544
fax: 905-885-7698
bgilmer@porthope.ca