Ontario Unlocking Free Trade Within Canada

April 16, 2025

The government has introduced the Protect Ontario through Free Trade within Canada Act, which will tear down internal trade barriers, support economic integration and growth across Canada and cut costly and unnecessary red tape and trade barriers to help grow Ontario’s economy.

We also announced that Ontario will remove all of our party-specific exceptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, making us the first province to do so. This, along with our new legislation, is the most ambitious provincial action on interprovincial trade in Canadian history.

Ontario will work to unlock free trade between provinces and territories, so we can further strengthen and unify Canada, but more importantly, create new markets and opportunities for Ontario workers and goods.

The Protect Ontario through Free Trade within Canada Act contains a number of measures to support free trade and labour mobility, including:

• Ensuring the mutual recognition of goods and services from across the country, so that goods and services that meet one province’s regulatory standards are automatically recognized as being equivalent in Ontario, and vice-versa.
• Allowing credentialed and certified workers from other provinces to practice immediately in Ontario while they register with their appropriate regulatory body.
• Enabling Direct-to-Consumer alcohol sales with reciprocating provinces and territories so that consumers can purchase alcohol directly from producers across Canada.
• Establishing a “Buy Ontario, Buy Canadian” day held annually on the last day in June to help consumers support local businesses and workers through programs such as Ontario Made, Ontario Wood, VQA and Foodland Ontario.

News Releases:

En: Free Trade Within Canada

Fr: Le libre-échange au sein du Canada