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Manitoba has dropped to a failing grade in the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB)’s 15th annual Red Tape Report Card, released Wednesday during Red Tape Awareness Week.
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Once praised for its regulatory accountability, the province’s removal of critical red tape reduction tools has led to a sharp decline in its performance.
“Manitoba was a trailblazer in red tape reduction, showing how governments can streamline regulations to help businesses thrive,” said Brianna Solberg, CFIB’s director for the Prairies & the North. “Unfortunately, by repealing its Regulatory Accountability Act, Manitoba has abandoned the tools that ensured progress, leaving it without a clear way to measure or manage regulatory burdens. Without a measurement of the regulatory burden, it’s essentially equivalent to trying to measure the weight of something without a scale.”
The 2025 Red Tape Report Card assesses three key areas of government performance: regulatory accountability, regulatory burden, and political priority.
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Manitoba received the lowest marks for regulatory accountability, scoring just 1.8 out of 10, placing it in the “F” category. The province’s regulatory burden, however, scored better at 8.8, earning an “A-.” The major concern is its political priority, where Manitoba earned a 2.0, a grade that signals a lack of commitment to reducing red tape.
The report emphasizes that Manitoba’s decline in regulatory performance signals an issue for the business community, particularly as provincial leadership seems to have shifted focus away from modernizing regulations to create a more competitive environment for businesses.
Other provinces, including Alberta and Nova Scotia, performed significantly better, with Alberta earning the highest overall grade of A.
The report also features a bonus score based on government housing initiatives, highlighting the growing importance of regulatory reform in housing policy.
“Too many jurisdictions in Canada are bogged down in bureaucracy. We need all levels of government to make red tape reduction a priority,” said Solberg.
To view the full report, visit cfib.ca/redtape.
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