HALIFAX: Significant progress has been made by Nova Scotia in removing trade barriers with provinces and territories over the past year, finds the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s latest State of Internal Trade report: Interprovincial Cooperation Report Card.
Since 2024 Nova Scotia has improved from a C to now leading the country with the highest grade in no small part thanks to the province’s Free Trade and Mobility within Canada Act passed earlier this year.
“While Nova Scotia has shown strong leadership and has been one of the first to take real action towards mutual recognition, this momentum must not fade away,” said Duncan Robertson, CFIB’s Director of legislative affairs for Nova Scotia.
“We’re marching the ball downfield, but we haven’t reached the end zone just yet. The premiers and the prime minister have instructed the Committee on Internal Trade to reach a pan-Canadian mutual recognition agreement for December.
“We’ll be watching those conversations closely to ensure we cross the goal line and finally eliminate Canada’s internal trade barriers once and for all.”
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The 2025 report card grades are:
| 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 | D | 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 |
| PEI | 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.
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The report grades three major areas of interprovincial/territorial cooperation: CFTA exceptions, select barriers to trade, and the status of items from reconciliation agreements.
There’s an updated bonus indicator that rewards jurisdictions that accept other regions’ regulations and standards as sufficient within their own jurisdiction.
“Three years ago, we challenged governments to blow a hole through Canada’s internal trade barriers by adopting mutual recognition policies to get the flow of goods, services and people moving across the country. At the time, we heard all the reasons why it couldn’t be done.
“But just in the past six months we’ve seen seven jurisdictions, including Nova Scotia, with mutual recognition legislation on the books,” said Robertson. “The internal trade file is finally getting the attention is has desperately needed since the CFTA was signed in 2017.
“While there’s lots of reason for optimism, we’ll be closely watching Nova Scotia’s next steps to ensure the rules match the rhetoric and small businesses feel actual progress on the ground.”
Read CFIB’s full Canada’s Interprovincial Cooperation Report Card.
