CASL doesn't ask whether the relationship still feels warm. It runs a clock, and once you know where that clock started, the answer to this question is arithmetic, not judgment.
Short answer
Yes, but on a fixed clock, not indefinitely. Section 10(10)(a) deems implied consent to exist from “the purchase or lease of a product, goods, a service, land or an interest or right in land, within the two-year period immediately before the day on which the message was sent.” A closing is exactly that transaction, so every past client is implied-consent-eligible for two years from the day their deal closed — and not automatically after.
The clock runs from the transaction date, not from the last time you spoke to the client or the last newsletter they opened. Section 6(1) is what makes the distinction matter: it prohibits sending a commercial electronic message “unless the person to whom the message is sent has consented to receiving it, whether the consent is express or implied.” Implied consent under section 10(10)(a) is one specific, time-boxed way of meeting that bar — it isn't a permanent status a client earns by becoming a client.
A separate, shorter window applies to people who never closed: Section 10(10)(a) also deems implied consent from “an inquiry or application, within the six-month period” before the message. implied consent and its two-year clock sets out both windows side by side, since the two-year and six-month clocks get mixed up constantly and they track different relationships.
A list segment more than two years past its last qualifying transaction has dropped out of implied consent entirely — it isn't a grey area or a soft warning. At that point the contact needs express consent under CASL, obtained separately, or has to come out of commercial sends. a newsletter sent to a two-year-old list works through exactly this failure: a newsletter sent to a segment that had aged past its implied consent window, with no record of a fresh opt-in to fall back on.
The burden of proving consent, implied or express, sits with the sender, not the recipient — CASL itself places the burden of proof on the sender: Section 13 states that “A person who alleges that they have consent to do an act that would otherwise be prohibited under any of sections 6 to 8 has the onus of proving it.” For implied consent that means the transaction date itself has to be on file and dated, since that date is the entire proof.
A 30-minute call is enough to tell you whether your process holds up.
