Council of the Federation meeting was the perfect opportunity for bold and decisive action on internal trade

At last week’s Council of the Federation (COF) meeting, Canada’s premiers need to show they remain committed to keeping progress on interprovincial trade on the front burner, says the Canadian

Federation of Independent Business (CFIB).

“Provincial governments have made some progress. But there’s a lot more that needs to be done and without the strong will of the premiers we are worried that the good intentions behind CFTA won’t turn into a reality. We need faster action on irritants that we’ve been talking about for years such as being able to ship wine from one province to another,” said Laura Jones, CFIB’S executive vice-president.

Since CFTA’S signing, the provinces and territories have tackled some issues like standards for tires and health and safety equipment. However, there are still piles of red tape and exceptions stifling the flow of goods and services within Canada’s borders. For example, only three provinces (Nova Scotia, Manitoba and British Columbia) allow direct-to-consumer shipment of wine from any other province and only two (Nova Scotia and Ontario) have moved to waive fees for registrations and renewals for businesses from any other jurisdiction. Additionally, residents in only four provinces (Nova Scotia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta) can bring home alcohol from other provinces and territories for their own personal consumption without limits. In fact, when the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) was signed in 2017, there were 123 exceptions stalling trade of specific products, and there is no public information to suggest this has been reduced.

“CFIB is especially concerned about the fact that individual provinces and territories cannot remove their own exceptions without obtaining the consent of the other provinces and territories,” added Marilyn Braun-pollon, CFIB’S Vicepresident, Prairie & Agri-business. “This kind of red tape goes directly against the spirit of CFTA and needs to be changed.”

To ensure the CFTA is successful, CFIB was recommending that premiers:

- Make internal trade a standing item on the

COF agenda and report annually on progress made to remove internal trade barriers

- Allow provinces and territories to remove exceptions as they see fit, without needing approval from other jurisdictions

- Move immediately on long-standing irritants in areas such as alcohol, labour mobility, transportation and construction.