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Province profile

Nova Scotia

Strong internal-trade cooperation grade alongside a seafood and ocean-tech economy that trades heavily with the rest of Canada and abroad.

Overview

Population

1,090,852

Local time

Internal-trade grade

A

Net debt / GDP

35%

Worth knowing

One of the three original Maritime provinces that harmonized its sales tax with the federal GST, in 1997.

Population: Statistics Canada, as of 2026-04-01. Internal-trade grade: CFIB 2026 report card. Net debt/GDP: a compiled cross-provincial estimate, not a single official StatCan table — shown as a data gap for territories rather than assumed zero.

Economy & key industries

Primary sectors

Fisheries & seafoodOcean technologyDefenceTourism

Doing business here

Sales tax

HST 14%

Minimum wage

$16.75/hr, effective 2026-04-01

Corp. tax (small biz / general)

10.5% / 29%

Corporate registry

Registry of Joint Stock Companies (NS)

Employment standards

NS Labour Standards Code

Workers' compensation

WCB Nova Scotia

Extra-provincial registration by business type

Assuming you're coming from another province with no physical presence in Nova Scotia yet — the most common starting point. Your actual answer depends on your specific presence and revenue; run the full lookup tool for that.

Business typeExtra-provincial registration
Retail / e-commerce goodsLikely not required
Professional servicesLikely not required
Regulated trades & licensingDepends — confirm
Healthcare & medical professionalsDepends — confirm
Alcohol / cannabis DTCLikely not required
Trucking & logisticsLikely not required
Food & beverageDepends — confirm

Trade & market access

Investment / trade office

Invest Nova Scotia

Government tenders

Procurement Nova Scotia

Liquor & cannabis authority

Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation (NSLC)

Commercial transport authority

Nova Scotia Public Works

Live federal tender listings and business-registry search across all 13 jurisdictions are also on the Resources page.

AI research brief

Have Claude search reputable sources only — Statistics Canada, the Bank of Canada, provincial governments, major bank economics desks, established policy institutes, and wire/business press — for current context on Nova Scotia's economy and policy climate. Separate from the sourced dataset above.

Run your own checkAll provinces

Guidance snapshot: 2026-08-05. Broader review pending. Informational only — not legal advice.