Toronto, April 16, 2025 – The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) welcomes the Ontario government’s ground-breaking legislation to eliminate internal trade and labour mobility barriers, and allow direct-to-consumer sales of alcohol products.
We also applaud the government’s bold measure to remove all remaining party-specific Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) exceptions.
CFIB has long advocated for these three actions. Since 2022, we have released The State of Internal Trade: Canada’s Interprovincial Cooperation Report Card, an annual report where we grade federal, provincial and territorial governments on their interprovincial cooperation efforts. Grades include progress on mutual recognition, direct-to-consumer sales of alcohol products, and removing CFTA exceptions.
In addition, mutually recognizing all provincial and territorial regulatory standards and applying the province’s “As of Right” health care professionals’ regulatory principles to other sectors were both included in CFIB’s 2025 Top 10 Ontario Election Priorities document.
The U.S.-Canada trade war is a wake-up call for becoming more economically independent. We can’t control or predict the Trump administration’s next moves, but we can control what’s within our own borders.
The government’s measures announced today are about more than just creating opportunities – they’re also about creating a way for provinces to unite economically to stand up to the U.S. and together make Canada a more attractive international trading partner.
- Julie Kwiecinski, Director of Provincial Affairs (Ontario)
For media inquiries or interviews, please contact:
Dariya Baiguzhiyeva, 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 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.