Welcome to the Questionnaire to Identify Regulatory and Trade Barriers in Canada.


The Government of Manitoba would like to hear from businesses and other stakeholders regarding regulatory barriers in Canadian jurisdictions, which hinder their opportunity to work or do business in those jurisdictions.


The first round of stakeholder engagement to inform Manitoba's participation at the Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table (RCT) under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) has closed.

Stakeholders can continue to provide information by completing the questionnaire or providing a written submission following the closing date to inform future discussions.


Complete the Questionnaire and/or Email a Written Submission

Start Questionnaire >>


The Questionnaire should only take 20 minutes to complete, depending on the number of sections you complete. We thank you in advance for your participation.

Submissions can also be made by email to RCT@gov.mb.ca

If you have any questions related to the questionnaire please contact RCT@gov.mb.ca.




Canadian Free Trade Agreement

The objectives of the new Canadian Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect on July 1, 2017 include:

  • to reduce and eliminate, to the extent possible, barriers to the free movement of persons, goods, services and investments within Canada; and
  • to establish an open, efficient and stable domestic market.

Regulatory measures that contravene the Agreement are subject to dispute resolution mechanisms. However, some regulatory measures, while compliant with the Agreement, may still create a barrier to the movement of goods, services, investment and workers.

Regulatory measures include any legislation, regulation, directive, requirement, guideline, program, policy, administrative practice or any other procedure.




Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table (RCT)

The Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) establishes a regulatory reconciliation process that will help to address regulatory measures that are compliant with the Agreement but that stakeholders may experience as a barrier when doing business across federal, provincial and territorial jurisdictions.

It also establishes processes to facilitate cooperation in the development of future regulatory measures to avoid regulatory divergences that may impair trade, investment, or labour mobility in Canada.

The Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table (RCT) has a mandate to oversee the regulatory reconciliation and cooperation process.

A regulatory barrier can take many forms, such as:

  1. differing testing or certification requirements, or technical standards;
  2. differing trucking, shipping or transportation requirements;
  3. differing product labelling, or sizing/packaging requirements



Purpose of Questionnaire

This information is being collected to:

  • Identify and understand regulatory barriers in inter-jurisdictional trade being experienced by businesses and other stakeholders.
  • Identify regulatory barriers with respect to labour mobility and government procurement.
  • Assist in identifying priority areas for regulatory reconciliation and cooperation efforts and related trade negotiations.
  • Inform the RCT and related federal/provincial/territorial working groups

We may use specific information from this questionnaire including attributing it to specific sectors, industry groups or businesses/individuals, subject to consent where required.

Start Questionnaire >>

Logo: Canadian Free Trade Agreement