Government is eliminating interprovincial trade and commerce institutions; Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland
The federal government is taking steps to eliminate the interprovincial trade barriers under its jurisdiction, Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland announced in a press release Monday.
In a statement, Freeland said Ottawa has now removed all federal exemptions in the Canada Free Trade Agreement that would inhibit interprovincial trade. Prime Minister Mark Carney significantly reduced the number of federal barriers prior to the spring election, but there were still just shy of two dozen exemptions left in place, primarily for national security reasons.
According to the statement, most of the now-eliminated exceptions related to federal procurement rules.
The news comes a day before the deadline Carney had promised, to eliminate internal trade barriers by Canada Day, and in conjunction with the recent passing of the Liberals’ so-called One Canadian Economy bill.
Some provinces have been taking action to remove some internal trade barriers themselves by signing agreements and memorandums of understanding to do so.
Despite this, several sticking points remain in place and many interprovincial trade barriers continue to exist, such as geographic restrictions on the sale of certain goods, regulatory and policy differences across jurisdictions, and hurdles to labour mobility.
