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 53 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, for example when it comes to financial entities, commercial land development, transportation services and space projects.
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 Act.
“Removal of all federal exceptions in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement is one of the many recent measures we are taking, following the passing of the One Canadian Economy Act, to eliminate internal trade barriers and cut red tape for Canadian businesses,” Freeland said in the statement.
The Liberals’ Bill C-5, aimed at removing the federal barriers to internal trade and labour mobility, was passed nearly unanimously by MPs on June 20, shortly before the House rose for the summer break. It moved onto the Senate and was passed late last week.
In the face of U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war and repeated threats to Canadian sovereignty, Carney vowed during the election campaign to diversify Canada’s trading partners and “create one Canadian economy out of 13.”
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.
The committee on internal trade — made up of provincial ministers and premiers representing all of Canada’s provinces and territories — is also set to convene on July 8, according to the statement, at which point it will lay out any progress individual jurisdictions have made to scrap their own exceptions under the trade agreement.
In an interview with CTV Question Period earlier this month, Freeland conceded there are “different estimates” from economists on how much a Canada-wide free-trade deal would add to the economy.
“For me at the end of the day, we don’t know for sure, but everyone is agreed this is going to be a good thing,” Freeland told host Vassy Kapelos, pointing to a roundtable she held with leading economists the week before. “It will make our economy stronger. It will make us richer at a time when Canadian businesses are struggling to export their goods to the U.S.”
With files from CTV News’ Colton Praill
