Toronto, June 30, 2025 – More progress has been made on removing trade barriers within Canada in the past six months than in the eight years since the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) was signed, finds the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s latest The State of Internal Trade: Canada’s Interprovincial Cooperation Report Card.
Ontario’s significant progress lifted its report grade to an A, placing it in a tie with Nova Scotia for the country’s highest letter grade.
“The Ontario government scored exceptionally better than last year’s C+, mostly due to the trail-blazing move of eliminating all its Canadian Free Trade Agreement exceptions,” said Julie Kwiecinski, CFIB’s director of provincial affairs for Ontario.
Other Ontario improvements include:
- Passing mutual recognition enabling legislation (Bill 2) to mutually recognize the goods, services and registered workers of reciprocating jurisdictions;
- Extending the province’s “As of Right” health care professionals’ entry rules to occupations governed by regulators under the Ontario Labour Mobility Act (e.g., Skilled Trades Ontario); and
- Creating a framework under Bill 2 to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales with willing provinces.
“Ontario moved quickly to sign internal trade MOUs with six provinces,” said Kwiecinski. “Now, it must build on that momentum and immediately create the regulations needed to get to the operational phase where the changes can be felt on the ground by small businesses.”
According to a CFIB April 2025 survey, 9 in 10 Ontario small business owners agree that governments need to follow through more quickly on their actions to improve interprovincial trade.
“To raise the bar on improving internal trade, the Ontario government should focus next on mutual recognition of workers’ compensation registration and occupational health and safety rules,” said Kwiecinski. “If the registration or rule is good enough in one province, it should be good enough in all provinces.”
CFIB’s 2025 internal trade report grades
| Jurisdiction |
Canadian Free Trade Agreement Exceptions (40%) |
Select Barriers to Internal Trade (20%) |
Status of Items from Reconciliation Agreements (40%) |
Bonus Indicator: Mutual Recognition (Multiplier) |
Overall Score and Grade |
| NS |
2.3 |
F |
5.9 |
D |
8.9 |
A- |
8.5 |
9.4 |
A |
| ON |
10 |
A+ |
6.0 |
C- |
8.2 |
B |
5 |
9.2 |
A |
| MB |
7.3 |
C+ |
5.4 |
D |
9.6 |
A |
5 |
8.9 |
A- |
| BC |
6.3 |
C- |
4.1 |
D |
9.2 |
A |
5 |
8.5 |
B+ |
| FED* |
6.8 |
C |
|
|
9.7 |
A |
0 |
8.2 |
B |
| AB |
7.9 |
B |
4.1 |
D |
9.5 |
A |
1 |
8.0 |
B |
| PE |
3.1 |
F |
4.7 |
D |
8.8 |
A- |
5 |
7.8 |
B |
| SK |
6.8 |
C |
5.3 |
D |
9.2 |
A |
1 |
7.7 |
B- |
| NB |
4.8 |
D |
4.7 |
D |
8.5 |
B+ |
1 |
6.6 |
C |
| QC |
0.0 |
F |
3.6 |
F |
8.9 |
A- |
3 |
6.0 |
C- |
| NL |
4.1 |
D |
2.6 |
F |
8.5 |
B+ |
1 |
6.0 |
C- |
| NT |
4.8 |
D |
2.0 |
F |
8.8 |
A- |
0 |
5.8 |
D |
| NU |
4.5 |
D |
2.0 |
F |
8.6 |
B+ |
0 |
5.6 |
D |
| YT |
1.3 |
F |
3.0 |
F |
8.8 |
A- |
0 |
4.6 |
D |
The federal government is scored on two areas: the economic impact score based on the procurement exceptions they maintain 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.
The report grades three major areas of interprovincial/territorial cooperation: CFTA exceptions, select barriers to internal trade, and the status of items from reconciliation agreements. An updated bonus indicator rewards jurisdictions that accept other regions’ regulations and standards as sufficient within their own jurisdiction.
Read CFIB’s full The State of Internal Trade: Canada’s Interprovincial Cooperation Report Card.
For media inquiries or interviews, please contact:
Ryan Mallough, CFIB
647-464-2814
public.affairs@cfib.ca
About CFIB
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is Canada’s largest association of small- and medium-sized businesses with 100,000 members across every industry and region, including over 39,000 in Ontario. 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.
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