New Deloitte Canada report series highlights smarter regulation as a catalyst for faster growth, investment, and productivity

Accelerated progress is needed now as Canada intensifies its efforts to attract investment and strengthen its economic competitiveness across all sectors

New York, NY (Sept. 10, 2026) – Deloitte Canada is pleased to announce the release of a new report series, Smarter Regulation: Unlocking Canada’s growth potential, which examines how regulatory modernization can help address Canada’s persistent productivity and competitiveness challenges. At a time when businesses are navigating economic uncertainty, global trade changes and slowing investment, the research finds that increasingly complex and fragmented regulatory requirements are limiting Canada’s ability to drive economic growth, foster innovation, and deliver on national priorities.

“This new Deloitte series underscores the critical role that smart and effective regulation plays in driving and protecting investment, enabling innovation, and supporting economic growth for our country,” said Nino Montemarano, a Regulatory and Risk leader at Deloitte Canada, and lead author of the series. “Regulatory modernization is a powerful, controllable policy tool as Canada navigates heightened trade and geopolitical uncertainty. It’s imperative that the country’s regulatory framework is efficient, coordinated, and designed to reduce unnecessary complexity and unlock economic growth across all sectors.”

As external economic pressures continue to create uncertainty, Canada must focus on controllable barriers to investment. In recent Business Council of Canada CEO Surveys conducted between 2023 and 2025, Canadian CEOs identified the regulatory burden as the leading factor influencing companies’ decisions to invest in Canada.^[1]

Recognizing the significant economic impact of growing regulatory complexity, the federal government took an important step toward modernization in 2025 with the introduction of the Red Tape Review initiative. Deloitte’s latest research findings underscore the need for accelerated progress on this front, concluding that smarter, outcomes-focused regulation that creates certainty and confidence is essential in achieving Canada’s investment ambitions.

Drawing on consultations from leading industry stakeholders, Deloitte’s four-part series outlines key regulatory and policy challenges across critical areas of the Canadian economy. Each report identifies practical, risk-based opportunities to reduce unnecessary complexity and improve regulatory outcomes within a specific industry, while measuring their potential contribution to Canada’s economic performance.

Modernizing Canada’s AML regime to unlock economic growth

The first chapter of the series, Five ways to strengthen Canada’s anti-money-laundering outcomes, developed in consultation with the Canadian Bankers Association, explores how modernizing Canada’s anti-money laundering (AML) framework could improve intelligence, enforcement, and recovery of criminal proceeds, and quantifies the potential economic benefits of reducing financial crime in Canada.

Money laundering continues to impose significant economic and social costs on Canada, with estimates suggesting that up to $113 billion is laundered through the economy each year, according to the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada.^[2] While Canada has made significant investments in strengthening its AML regime over the past two decades, enforcement outcomes have not kept pace.

Deloitte’s analysis estimates that implementing regulatory reforms that reduce money laundering activity by 30% could generate significant economic gains for Canada, increasing the country’s real GDP by $216 billion between 2027 and 2036 and creating an average of 67,000 additional jobs across the economy annually. To achieve these results, the report calls for a smarter, risk-based approach focused on three priorities:

• Strengthening information sharing between financial institutions, law enforcement, and government agencies;
• Modernizing legislative and reporting frameworks to improve the quality and usefulness of financial intelligence;
• And enhancing enforcement and asset recovery tools.

“Canada’s banks are deeply committed to safeguarding the financial system, and this Deloitte research validates the importance of all stakeholders working together to make updating our anti-money laundering regime a vital national priority,” said Anthony G. Ostler, President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Bankers Association. “In today’s environment of global economic uncertainty, we must sharpen our focus on the variables we can control. Transparent, predictable and risk-based regulation provides a powerful lever to modernize our sector and unlock the full potential of our national economy. By adopting these forward-looking reforms, we can strengthen our collective fight against financial crime while cementing Canada’s position as a highly competitive, secure, and attractive destination for global investment.”

Building on the first chapter of the series, Deloitte will release three additional installments over the coming weeks, addressing policy and regulatory priorities in distinct areas of the economy.

Upcoming Releases

• Topic: Energy & Infrastructure
  • Industry association consulted: Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP)
  • Quote: “In a world that is increasingly being defined by energy insecurity, trade uncertainty, and geopolitical instability, countries need to focus on the things within their control. Smart, efficient, and risk-based regulations that provide certainty and enable industries to move with alacrity can be a major competitive advantage in the race to attract global capital. The analysis and recommendations done by Deloitte are a positive contribution to the much-needed efforts underway to modernize Canada’s regulatory environment.” – Lisa Baiton, President & CEO, CAPP
• Topic: Defence
  • Industry association consulted: Canadian Defence & Security Industries Association (CADSI)
  • Quote: “Canada’s defence and security industry is essential to our national security, economic resilience, and technological sovereignty—and the ability to produce at home is the foundation of all three. Rearmament is first a procurement challenge then a production one. This means modernizing procurement processes and authorities, clarity and predictability through long-term contracts and plans so industry can invest in new capacity and technology, and new frameworks for industry-government collaboration as we deliver capability to the Canadian Armed Forces. CADSI welcomes continued dialogue on practical reforms that can improve efficiency, transparency, and outcomes across the defence procurement system.” – Nicolas Todd, Vice-President, Government Relations and Communications, CADSI
• Topic: Fraud
  • Industry association consulted: Canadian Anti-Scam Coalition (CASC)
  • Quote: “Fraud is a cross-sector crime, yet Canada’s response remains largely siloed—and criminals know it. They exploit the seams between financial institutions, telecom providers, digital platforms, regulators, and law enforcement, because no single organization has a complete view. Strengthening regulatory coordination is one of the most impactful reforms we can make. The Canadian Anti-Scam Coalition is working to ensure Canada adopts a whole-of-ecosystem model that brings all key players together to pursue a shared goal: closing those gaps and better protecting Canadians.” – Jennifer Quaid, Executive Director, CASC

The four chapters of Deloitte’s series can be found here: Smarter regulation: Unlocking Canada’s growth potential.

Notes

1. Business Council of Canada, Business Council of Canada Survey: CEOs Expect the Canadian Economy to Weaken over the Next Six Months (Ottawa: Business Council of Canada, May 23, 2025)

2. Department of Finance Canada, 2025 Assessment of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing Risks in Canada; Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC), National Criminal Intelligence Estimate on the Canadian Criminal Marketplace: Money Laundering and Fraud (2020)

About Deloitte Canada

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SOURCE: Deloitte

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