Movers are not licensed, and that changes what you check
The Government of Ontario states it in one line on its own guidance page: moving companies are not licensed by the province. There is no register to search, no licence number to quote, no trade certification for a mover in Ontario or anywhere else in Canada. Anyone who tells you they are a licensed mover is using the word loosely.
That does not leave you without anything to check. It moves the checks somewhere else: to the truck, to the insurance, to the employment of the crew, and to the written contract. Those four are all verifiable, and a company that is straightforward about all four is a company worth hiring.
The ten per cent rule
This is the most useful consumer protection in the trade and the least known. Once you have a written estimate, the mover cannot charge more than ten per cent above it unless you have asked for additional supplies or services. Ontario's guidance on hiring a mover states it directly.
Two consequences follow. First, a written estimate is worth far more than a lower verbal number, because only the written one carries the rule. Second, the estimate has to be specific enough to be enforceable: the hourly rate, the number of movers, the truck charge, the travel time and the minimum hours all need to be on it. An estimate that says only a total is hard to argue about later.
The same guidance is clear that a mover cannot hold your belongings to pressure you into renegotiating the contract. Ontario treats that as an unfair practice and an offence. If it happens, the contract and the written estimate are what you need in hand.
Surveys, and why a phone quote is a warning
The Canadian Association of Movers publishes consumer guidance for its members' market and it does not hedge on this point: stay away from anyone who does not inspect the job before giving you a quote, or who only wants to provide a quote over the phone.
A video walkthrough is a reasonable substitute for a studio or a one-bedroom apartment. For a house with a basement and a garage it is not, and the basement is where estimates fail. Ottawa's housing stock is almost entirely full-basement, and twenty years of storage does not appear on a phone call.
Get at least three written estimates, which is what Ontario's own guidance recommends, and make sure all three were given the same information. Three quotes based on three different assumed volumes tell you nothing.
Deposits, cash and tax
The moving association's guidance is that if a deposit is required it should be kept to a minimum, and that ten per cent should be adequate in many cases. A demand for a large share of the total up front, before any work is done, is not the industry norm.
The same guidance names two specific signals worth taking seriously: a supplier who offers to do the work without charging tax, and one who demands to be paid in cash. Both are described as signs of unprofessional work. In practice they also remove your paper trail at exactly the point you would need one.
Pay by a method that leaves a record, keep the written estimate and the bill of lading together, and do not settle the final invoice until you have walked the empty rooms and the new place with the crew leader.
What is actually verifiable
The truck. Ontario requires a Commercial Vehicle Operator's Registration certificate for trucks with a registered gross weight or actual weight over 4,500 kg. Three-tonne and five-tonne moving trucks are comfortably over that line, so a legitimate mover has a CVOR, and the certificate carries the operator's safety record.
The liability arrangement. The Canadian industry default is a released rate of $0.60 per pound, which is $1.32 per kilogram, per article. On a 45 kg dresser that is about $60 regardless of what it cost. You can declare a higher value and pay for higher liability, and whichever option you chose has to be recorded on the bill of lading. Ask for a Carrier Liability Certificate.
The crew. Ask whether the movers are employees of the company and covered by WSIB, rather than casual labour hired for the day. If somebody is injured carrying your sofa down your stairs, that answer matters to you as well as to them.
The association. Membership in the Canadian Association of Movers comes with a Code of Ethics that members sign and a complaints route that exists outside the company. It is not a licence and it should not be described as one, but it is a real, checkable affiliation.