EventAction
Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act (Part 1 of Bill C-5) and its regulations come into force
The Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act, enacted by the One Canadian Economy Act (Bill C-5), which received royal assent on 26 June 2025, came into force on 1 January 2026 under an order published in the Canada Gazette on 19 November 2025; its regulations took effect the same day. The Act removes federal barriers to trade and labour mobility within Canada: a good or service that meets a province's or territory's requirements is treated as meeting comparable federal requirements for interprovincial trade, and a worker licensed or certified by a province or territory can work in a comparable occupation under federal jurisdiction. The regulations list exceptions, including food regulated under the Safe Food for Canadians Act. The government also lists the removal of all federal exceptions under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement among its earlier steps.
- Date
- Kind
- Legislation
- Where
- Canada
- Evidence
- Action: Something was done: a law switched on, a tariff imposed, money committed. How evidence is weighed
- Who
- Government of Canada (acted)
Sources
- Government of Canada (One Canadian Economy), “Government of Canada removes barriers to interprovincial trade and labour mobility” (external site), . source record
- Canada Gazette, “Order Fixing January 1, 2026 as the Day on Which the Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act Comes into Force (SI/2025-107)” (external site), . source record
Laws and agreements
- One Canadian Economy Act (incl. Building Canada Act) (C-5): this event is its “In force” stage
- Free Trade and Labour Mobility in Canada Act (S.C. 2025, c. 2, s. 2 (consolidated as F-31.55)): this event is its “In force” stage
Claims that rest on this event
- A law passed is not a power switched on. BC's narrow Bill 14 was in force in 33 days and is being used for the North Coast Transmission Line, but only 1 of Bill 15's 48 sections was in force in late September 2026, 16 months after it passed, Quebec's Bill 5 lapsed, and Ontario has not yet designated any special economic zone. So the test of whether the build-out is locked in must ask whether powers are brought into force and used.
Here the power was switched on: the federal internal-trade law passed in June 2025 was brought into force with its regulations on 1 January 2026, about six months later.
How it bears on the outcome
| Explanation | Fit | Why |
|---|---|---|
| C0 Ottawa as victim | Against weak | Bringing an internal free-trade law into force is Ottawa acting, not only receiving pressure. |
| C1 Ottawa opportunistic | Fits weak | A long-stalled internal trade and labour-mobility reform passed in 2025 and in force in 2026 is consistent with using the crisis to push domestic reform. |
| C2 Ottawa in no hurry | Neutral weak | The law's coming into force follows a set schedule and says little about Ottawa's pace on the trade talks. |
| C3 Ottawa coordinating with Washington | Neutral weak | Nothing here bears on coordination with Washington. |