Canadian Federation of Independent Business

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) is a non-profit business organization representing the interests and concerns of over 109,000 Canadian owners of small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) to all three levels of government. Issues of concern to the Canadian SME community are identified by CFIB members through surveys, opinion polls and face-to-face visits. Members’ views and opinions are then delivered to all three levels of government in the form of research reports, meetings and testimony. These concerns are far ranging but typically include tax policy,labour policies and the reduction of regulatory paper burden. CFIB describes itself as a non-partisan political advocacy organization working with all federal and provincial parties and reports that its sole source of funding is membership dues; it accepts no donations or government funds. The organization’s head office is located in Toronto and there is a regional office located in each province. In addition there is also a national office located in Ottawa.

CFIB membership ranges from one person home-based businesses to firms employing hundreds of people. Their membership reflects the economic diversity of the country and ranges over all industries and economic sectors. While business size is not a criterion for membership, members must be Canadian-based privately owned companies. As publicly traded corporations cannot be members, CFIB describes itself as a representative of the “non- economy.”

Born out of a 1969 tax protest, the Canadian Federation of Independent Business was officially founded in 1971 by John Bulloch, a small business owner and business professor at Ryerson. Bulloch had formed The Canadian Council for Fair Taxation in 1969 to fight the White Paper on Taxation proposed by the then Minister of Finance, Edgar Benson. Under the terms of the White Paper, Canadian small businesses faced the prospect of an increased tax rate of 50%. The White Paper was ultimately withdrawn and the CCFT was succeeded by the enduring CFIB.

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