Oshawa placed sixth among 66 municipalities in the first national Oshawa small-business report card released by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
The city received a score of 6.50 out of 10 and a C-minus grade in the 2026 Municipal Report Card.
Oshawa ranks among national top 10
CFIB assessed cost burden, regulatory burden and small-business friendliness. Oshawa scored 8.0 for cost burden, 5.0 for regulatory burden and 6.5 for friendliness.
The overall score gives 40 per cent weight each to cost and regulatory burden and 20 per cent to friendliness.
Red Deer received the highest score at 7.33 and a C-plus. Saskatoon and Strathcona County followed, with Toronto fourth, Ottawa fifth and Oshawa sixth.
No municipality earned an A or B
The average score was 4.79 and the median 4.82, both corresponding to an F. CFIB classified 6.0 to 7.4 as satisfactory C-range performance.
No other Durham municipality appeared in the published top-10 table. The report is a national comparison, not a complete measure of every local business experience.
