Canada’s internal trade barriers cost more than US tariffs, report finds
What the single market proposal would mean
The Toronto Region Board of Trade’s report argues that the federal government should be authorised by provinces to act as guarantor of a binding single market, convening negotiations, setting deadlines, publishing progress, and intervening if the process stalls. Provinces would take the lead, but Ottawa would hold a backstop authority grounded in its constitutional trade and commerce powers.
The report sets out a time-bound intergovernmental process focused on six priority sectors where fragmentation causes the most economic damage: housing and building codes, alcohol, food, labour mobility, manufacturing, and transportation. For straightforward reforms, the report recommends a five-year implementation deadline; for areas requiring legislative and regulatory coordination across multiple jurisdictions, up to ten years.
Internal trade flows account for nearly one-fifth of Canada’s GDP, according to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement secretariat. The report notes that the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has estimated that removing interprovincial barriers could prompt more than 30,000 additional housing starts annually — a figure that matters directly to advisors and planners working with clients who hold real estate in their portfolios.
Progress on some fronts is already underway. Nine provinces signed an operating agreement on direct-to-consumer alcohol sales on July 21, 2026. The Canadian Mutual Recognition Agreement on the Sale of Goods has created pathways for products approved in one province to be sold in others without duplicate certification.
Ontario’s Protect Ontario Through Free Trade Within Canada Act has extended “as of right” provisional licensing to more than 300 regulated professions, effective January 1, 2026. The June 2026 federal-provincial-territorial memorandum of understanding on interprovincial trucking commits governments to harmonise permitting and weight requirements.
