2025 Red Tape Report Card: CFIB encourages a renewed top-down commitment to build on past progress

Charlottetown, January 29, 2025 – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) has released its 15th annual Red Tape Report Card during Red Tape Awareness Week™, giving Prince Edward Island (PEI) a C- overall grade. While CFIB recognizes that PEI has made notable progress in reducing red tape in the past, the results underscore the need for renewed and top-down leadership on regulatory modernization. 
 
Nova Scotia and Ontario follow closely behind Alberta, while Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador both receive failing grades this year.  

“For 16 years, CFIB has been holding governments accountable to measuring and reducing their regulatory burdens. While many governments have the right frameworks in place, red tape reduction needs to see a renewed focus at all levels in the year ahead,” said Frederic Gionet, Director for Atlantic Canada at CFIB. “Red tape reduction is the key to boosting Canadian business productivity and will give Canada’s entrepreneurs back the time and resources they need to grow our economy.” 

The 2025 Red Tape Report Card grades: 

*Due to a change in government in New Brunswick in October 2024, CFIB has assigned the province a status of “NA” (Not applicable) in lieu of a grade in the political priority section. As a result, the province is also marked as “NA” for the overall grade in this year’s report card, acknowledging the transition to a new government. We will resume grading New Brunswick in all categories in our 2026 report card. 

• Regulatory accountability, which considers whether governments are measuring regulation and setting regulatory constraints. 
• Regulatory burden, which includes indicators such as the number of regulatory restrictions in each jurisdiction. 
• Political priority, which looks at clear indications that red tape reduction and regulatory modernization are priorities for the Premier/Prime Minister and Executive Council/Cabinet.