Article contentThe challenge of domestic trade barriers in Canada can be traced back to pre-Confederation. The 1995 Agreement on Internal Trade was the first significant effort to reduce those barriers, but it had minimal effect because it included too many exemptions and not enough enforcement. That agreement was updated in 2017 with the Canada Free Trade Agreement. But that deal was also plagued by exemptions on everything from alcohol to trucking to legal professions and still lacked enforcement.