Toronto, February 24, 2022 – Seven provinces achieved “As” in regulatory accountability, but not a single province made the honour roll when it comes to the overall regulatory burden on business, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s 12th annual Red Tape Report Card.
“A decade ago governments weren’t thinking about their regulatory activity as something that needed transparency, which is crazy when you consider how unacceptable that approach would be for taxes and government spending,” said Laura Jones, CFIB executive vice-president. “We’ve made so much progress in this area but it’s just the beginning of the journey we need to take to make it easier to deal with government. Given our battered economy, this is more important now than ever.”
The report card grades governments in two areas. The “accountability” section considers whether governments are measuring regulation and setting regulatory budgets. The “burden” section includes some broad indicators such as the number of regulatory restrictions in each province. It also includes some specific indicators like whether the province allows direct-to-consumer shipping of wine.
The 2022 Red Tape Report Card grades are:
| Jurisdiction | Regulatory Accountability (60%) |
Regulatory Burden |
Overall Score & Grade |
| Manitoba | 10.0 A | 8.4 B+ | 9.4 A |
| Alberta | 10.0 A | 7.0 C | 8.8 A- |
| British Columbia | 9.3 A | 7.6 B- | 8.6 B+ |
| Nova Scotia | 10.0 A | 6.3 C- | 8.5 B+ |
| Saskatchewan | 9.7 A | 6.7 C | 8.5 B+ |
| Ontario | 10.0 A | 5.6 D | 8.3 B+ |
| Quebec | 9.3 A | 5.5 D | 7.8 B |
| Prince Edward Island | 8.0 B | 5.0 D- | 6.8 C |
| New Brunswick | 4.7 F | 4.7 F | 4.7 F |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | 2.3 F | 3.8 F | 2.9 F |
For media enquiries or interviews, please contact:
Milena Stanoeva, 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 95,000 members across every industry and region. 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.