Mexico’s government is warning that doing business in Canada is so costly and bogged down in red tape that companies are thinking twice about expanding north, despite Ottawa’s claims of a renewed partnership.A blunt submission from the Mexican Embassy told the Senate foreign affairs committee that firms exploring opportunities in Canada — from construction to finance, food processing and real estate — routinely run into excessive requirements, high costs and layers of bureaucracy. Diplomats said many companies that approached the Embassy “expressed concern about excessive requirements, cost or red tape.”The report said Mexico struggled to obtain even basic information from Canadian authorities. Unlike Mexico’s National Registry of Foreign Investment, which publicly lists all foreign companies operating in the country, Canada has no comparable national registry. Provincial registries vary widely, and requests for information were often denied on privacy grounds.Diplomats pointed to a 2024 trip by Ontario Economic Development Minister Vic Fedeli, who publicly claimed that 88 Mexican companies had spent in the province. When the Embassy sought details, it said no information was provided..The December 10 report landed just months after Prime Minister Mark Carney declared a “new era of cooperation” with Mexico during a September meeting with President Claudia Scheinbaum. At the time, Carney said both countries were “elevating our partnerships.”But Mexican officials told senators that Canada remains an afterthought for many businesses. Roberto Velasco Alvarez, Mexico’s Undersecretary for North America, said companies “have grown used to simply looking at the United States when they look north.”While the report did not list specific examples of burdensome Canadian rules, it echoed long‑standing complaints from MPs and senators who have repeatedly tried — and failed — to cut red tape.Parliament attempted to tackle the issue in 2015 with Bill C‑21, the Red Tape Reduction Act, which required that any new administrative burden be offset by repealing an existing regulation. The law defined burdens as anything needed to prove compliance, including collecting, processing or reporting information.A 2022 Treasury Board review concluded the law had little effect. Of 248 outdated regulations repealed under the Act, 87% “had no impact on the administrative burden on businesses.” Regulators themselves acknowledged the disconnect, saying the number of repealed rules had no meaningful link to reducing paperwork.
