Red Tape Review: A Chance to Reclaim Lost Productivity

Canada’s federal regulatory burden has quietly ballooned — and the cost to business is no longer invisible.

According to a 2025 Statistics Canada study, federal regulatory requirements grew at a compound annual rate of 2.1% between 2006 and 2021. The cumulative impact? A 1.7% drag on GDP growth and a 9% hit to business investment.

The Canadian Chamber’s Business Data Lab projects that the total number of federal regulatory requirements reached ~348,700 in 2025 — up from 320,900 in 2021. Businesses now spend over 3.1 million hours annually complying with these rules, representing a national productivity loss equivalent to more than 358 years of continuous work.

Despite recessionary periods, including the 2008–2009 financial crisis and the 2020–2021 COVID-19 downturn, regulatory accumulation has remained steady. And with no updates to the 2016 federal Survey of Regulatory Compliance Costs, which was designed to measure the time and financial burden of regulatory compliance on small- and medium-sized businesses, policymakers are flying blind on the true burden.

The federal government’s current regulatory modernization initiative is a critical opportunity. Cutting outdated red tape could unlock growth, boost investment and give time back to Canadian businesses.

Smart regulation matters. Let’s make this review count.