Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador are sitting with an overall grade of F in the Canadian Federation of Independent Business’ 2025 Red Tape Report Card.

For Manitoba, this is a huge drop from their Grade of B+ in 2023.

Tyler Slobogian, a Senior Policy Analyst with the CFIB explains the reason for this.

“The province eliminated key red tape production tools over the past year, which has resulted in a bit of a bit of a steep decline in their standing. They repealed the regulatory accountability act which basically counted regulations and ensured they were held accountable for not implementing more than they were taking away. That seemed to be a negative move backwards for the business community.”

Slobogian said statistics showed that in 2024, the average business lost 32 business days wrapped up in red tape.

Across all three levels of government in Canada the cost of the red tape burden reached around 51-billion dollars total.

He added that small businesses bear a disproportionately high burden of the cost, paying up to 5 times more per employee than larger businesses.

Catch Thompson Today at 12:40 and 5:10 for the full interview with Slobogian.