Protect Ontario Through Free Trade Within Canada Act, 2025

What happened · Jul 21, 2026

Direct-to-consumer sales were enabled, but not 'immediately'. The first bilateral deal came about 12 months after the election and the eight-province deal about 17 months after, past the May 2026 deadline the provinces had set themselves.

Bill 2, the Protect Ontario Through Free Trade Within Canada Act, 2025, gave the province power to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales with reciprocating provinces. In July 2025 Ontario and 10 other jurisdictions signed a memorandum of understanding that set May 2026 as the implementation deadline. The first deal, with Nova Scotia, was signed on March 2, 2026. On July 15, 2026 CFIB was still urging Ontario to act on those memorandums and start shipping between all provinces. On July 21, 2026 Ford and eight other premiers (B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, P.E.I., and Newfoundland and Labrador) signed a deal that took effect immediately. On July 24, 2026 the LCBO said producers in those provinces could begin applying for authorization. Quebec and the three territories are not signatories.

What happened · Jan 1, 2026

Bill 56 passed on November 3, 2025. From January 1, 2026, the As of Right rules cover 16 more health professions, and doctors' and nurses' out-of-province licences are recognized automatically.

Ontario already had As of Right rules before the campaign. Since 2023 they had let nurses, physicians, respiratory therapists and medical lab technologists from other provinces work in Ontario for up to six months while they registered. On October 16, 2025 the government said it would expand the rules, and Bill 56, the Building a More Competitive Economy Act, 2025, amended the Regulated Health Professions Act to do so. It received Royal Assent on November 3, 2025. On January 1, 2026 the rules were extended to 16 more regulated health professions, including pharmacists, dentists, dental hygienists, psychologists and midwives. Ontario's physician and nurse regulators were also set as the bodies whose applicants have their home-province licences automatically recognized. Separately, Bill 2 (Royal Assent June 5, 2025) amended the Ontario Labour Mobility Act. That set up a broader As of Right deemed-certification system for non-health regulated jobs, which also took effect on January 1, 2026. Under the health rules, a worker can practise for one six-month period without first registering, but must register with the Ontario college before that period ends.