Canada's Interprovincial Trade Dashboard
See your government’s grades over the years
Explore our interactive dashboard to see how your government measures up in reducing internal trade barriers across Canada.
Research Report
The State of Internal Trade: Canada’s Interprovincial Cooperation Report Card – 2025
Every year, CFIB evaluates how well federal, provincial, and territorial governments are doing when it comes to removing internal trade barriers that block Canadian businesses from growing across the country.
This year’s report card shows more momentum than we’ve seen in years. Many jurisdictions saw their grades improve, thanks to new legislation, pilot projects, and public commitments to reduce internal trade barriers and recognize credentials across provincial borders.
However, from duplicative regulations to slow approval timelines, many barriers still remain. CFIB’s latest report card highlights these remaining issues, and the work still needed to reach true internal free trade.
This year’s report card continues to grade governments in three areas, with the addition of a new bonus indicator on progress toward mutual recognition:
- Exceptions to the CFTA
- Select barriers to internal trade
- Implementation status of reconciliation agreements
- *New – Bonus indicator: Current status of mutual recognition agreement
How much progress has been made on internal trade?
Pictured: Laura Jones, CFIB’s Executive Vice-President presents Canada’s trade ministers the Golden Scissors Award for the signing of the new Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) in July 2017.
After the Canadia Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) was signed in 2017, progress to reduce and eliminate internal trade barriers was slow, with limited political will to drive meaningful change. Last year’s CFIB report card found that while some governments had taken steps in the right direction, significant barriers still remained, hurting small businesses and the broader economy.
However, in the wake of shifting global dynamics following a change in U.S. political leadership, and a more challenging bilateral trade relationship as a result, Canadian political leaders have shown renewed interest in improving internal trade. Several governments have made monumental progress over the past several months towards reducing domestic trade barriers – an encouraging step for Canada’s economy.
- Canada is entering a new era of internal trade. In February 2025, Nova Scotia led the country by introducing Bill 36: Free Trade and Mobility within Canada Act, committing to mutual recognition of goods (including food), services, and investments with other jurisdictions that pass similar laws. The bill sparked a wave of action with PEI, BC, Ontario, Manitoba, and Quebec following suit.
- As of March 2025, more than half of federal CFTA exceptions related to procurement have been removed. Building on this momentum, Prime Minister Carney announced his intentions to eliminate all remaining federal exceptions and committed to freer domestic trade by July 1.
- In April 2025, the Ontario government followed suit with the Protect Ontario through Free Trade within Canada Act, removing all of its party-specific exceptions – the biggest advancement any government has taken to date.
- In September 2024, the Committee on Internal Trade (CIT) launched a pilot project to mutually recognize regulatory requirements in the trucking sector, with all jurisdictions committing to recognize one another’s regulations while maintaining safety and security. As of June 2025, the First Ministers committed to work together and expand this pilot program.
While we applaud the progress made by governments across the country to advance domestic free trade, we must see these commitments translate into real action. CFIB will continue to hold governments accountable and evaluate whether these policies are making a difference on the ground for Canadian businesses.
