Nova Scotia earns an 'A' on internal trade report card

Grades improve across Canada, but most small businesses say it’s no easier to operate across provincial borders.

Halifax, July 15, 2026 – Nova Scotia earned an A for its progress on internal trade, but many small businesses are still not seeing improvements in their day-to-day operations, according to the 2026 State of Internal Trade: Interprovincial Cooperation Report Card released today by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

The report shows clear improvement compared to previous years, with the federal government earning an A+ and ten jurisdictions, including Nova Scotia, achieving an A. Much of this progress is tied to growing adoption of mutual recognition legislation, including a pan-Canadian agreement that will allow goods approved in one province to be sold in another without additional regulatory requirements.

2026 State of Internal Trade Report Card grades are: 

Notes:

1. 1. While “A+” is not currently included in the grading scale, Ontario and the federal government are awarded an A+ in the area of Canadian Free Trade Agreement Exceptions for having no exceptions.
   2. The federal government is scored on two areas: an economic impact score based on the procurement exceptions it maintains from the CFTA in 2025, and the implementation status of reconciliation agreements. Both areas are weighted equally (50% each), as the select barriers area was not available for this analysis.

*NL given an NA due to recent change in government. 

CFIB applauds the significant progress made but cautions that these high scores reflect commitments more than actual progress felt on the ground. Nearly seven in 10 small businesses (69%) reported not noticing meaningful changes in doing business across Canada over the past 12 months, with 16% reporting it has become more difficult. Many continue to face challenges related to regulatory differences, certification requirements, and delays, all of which add costs. Awareness also remains an issue, with more than half (57%) of business owners not yet familiar with recent reforms.

“Nova Scotia showed leadership as the first province to put mutual recognition into law,” said Louis-Philippe Gauthier, CFIB’s vice-president, Atlantic. “At the same time, the approach requires reciprocity, which creates challenges — as seen for example with the number of exceptions Nova Scotia still maintains under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.”

Across the country, persistent barriers continue to affect key areas such as tax complexity, licensing and regulatory differences, and transportation and logistics. Restrictions on the movement of food and alcohol products also remain a source of frustration for many businesses, limiting market access and consumer choice.

CFIB will update its report card methodology for 2027 to better reflect the real-world experience of small businesses and the outcomes of internal trade reform.

“Internal trade progress has moved more in the last two years than in the last decade, but too many business owners still don’t know what has changed,” said Gauthier. “The Nova Scotia government needs to actively work on increasing awareness among businesses operating here of the opportunities available to them in other provinces.”

CFIB is calling on governments to turn commitments into measurable results by accelerating implementation and removing the most persistent internal trade barriers. That includes:

• expanding mutual recognition to cover all the sale and use of all goods, services and labour (including food, alcohol, WCH and OHS);
• reducing exceptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement and Canadian Mutual Recognition Agreement;
• delivering on the direct-to-consumer alcohol sales MOU;
• simplifying rules that add unnecessary cost and complexity for businesses operating across provincial and territorial borders.

“All the work done by intergovernmental affairs, the office of service efficiency and individual departments should be part of a sustained awareness activity undertaken by the Department of Growth and Development. Small businesses need to be aware of what’s available to them,” concluded Gauthier.

About CFIB

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small and medium-sized businesses, with 103,000 members across every industry and region. CFIB is dedicated to increasing business owners’ chances of success by driving policy change at all levels of government, providing expert advice and tools, and negotiating exclusive savings. Learn more at cfib.ca.