At least one expert says that if every province tables similar legislation, difficulties in moving goods and services across Canada could be a thing of the past.
The day after Nova Scotia introduced a bill meant to reduce interprovincial trade barriers, Premier David Eby said Wednesday that he’s looking at proposing something similar in the near future as part of B.C.’s efforts to make Pan-Canadian trade easier.
Under the legislation, all goods produced in another province with similar legislation would be allowed in Nova Scotia and wouldn’t be subject to any additional testing or fees. Likewise, any person professionally licensed in another province would be able to work in Nova Scotia.
At least one expert says that if every province tables similar legislation, difficulties in moving goods and services across different jurisdictions in Canada could be a thing of the past.
The efforts come as U.S. President Donald Trump muddies the waters on whether 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports, except for oil which would be taxed at 10 per cent, will come into affect on March 4 or be delayed until April 2.
“In advance of Nova Scotia introducing their legislation, our public service had reached out to understand what they were going to be bringing forward,” said Eby. “The goal of that was to ensure that British Columbia has tools in place that mesh with and work with the initiatives in other provinces.”
He also revealed that B.C. Trade Minister Diana Gibson will be meeting with her counterparts this week to discuss improvements to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement signed in 2017 that governs trade between provinces, and will be pushing for all jurisdictions to institute the mutual recognition approach to trade laid out in the Nova Scotia bill.
If brought forward, Conservative Leader John Rustad said the official Opposition will support it as it was part of their 10-point economic plan unveiled as part of October’s B.C. election campaign.
He also said he was pleased to hear Eby had raised his idea of taxing thermal coal sent to B.C. ports from the U.S. to his fellow premiers and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“I’m glad he’s taken ideas from us, because clearly, he hasn’t got any ideas, and he hasn’t had any success in the chaos that he’s created in this province in eight years,” said Rustad. “If we can help to relieve some of the pressure and help in terms of supporting jobs, supporting people in British Columbia, that’s what we’re here to do.”
Jean Philippe Fournier, Teneo vice-president and a former adviser to Quebec Finance Minister Eric Girard, said if there is one action provinces can do to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers, mutual recognition is it.
He explained that unlike tariffs or other explicit restrictions, many barriers that exist between provinces are simply regulations that have built up over time and made trade more difficult. These range from differences in the maximum length of a trailer truck to language requirements for doctors and nurses.
“What the Nova Scotia legislation does is it makes all these regulations, whether it’s food security, whether it’s transportation, whether it’s whatever the language is, extremely wide to cover as much stuff as possible,” said Fournier.
“It means that whatever regulation that covers the length of your trailer truck, the stuffing of your chair or your whatever, it’s automatically accepted, even if the laws between the two provinces are different.”
In order for this legislation to be effective, however, all provinces need to introduce similar legislation. Problems with logistics would arise if say B.C. and Saskatchewan pass the legislation but Alberta doesn’t given the geography of the three jurisdictions.
Fournier said he doesn’t expect this to be an issue for the most part as most provinces should jump on introducing similar bills now that Nova Scotia has broken the ice and both B.C. and Ontario have expressed interest.
Jasroop Gosal, Surrey Board of Trade policy and research manager, said he’s enormously supportive of B.C. passing such changes and said it forms an important part of making sure Canada has an integrated economy.
He said it also fits into changes he called for from all levels of government on Wednesday, including the creation of a Canadian supplier directory, implementation of a freeze on all regulatory changes for industry and halting taxation changes for businesses.
“There is no reason why it should be harder to trade between provinces than it is to trade with the United States or export internationally,” said Gosal.
We need to make sure that we can work together in a Team Canada approach, and that includes regulatory recognition, harmonization of regulations and ensuring that we are all working together to reduce not only trade barriers, but workforce or mobility barriers.”
Bridgitte Anderson, Greater Vancouver Board of Trade CEO, echoed Gosal’s sentiments and put forward her own wish list for governments across Canada. Among these is the exact mutual recognition system that Nova Scotia seeks to implement and B.C. is looking at following.
Anderson said there are various levels of complexity that need to be worked out, such as different packaging rules for alcohol and meat between provinces, but believes Trump’s tariff threats have finally succeeded in fostering the political will to do that.
She said that while some barriers may take months or even years to dismantle, others are low-hanging fruit that can be quickly plucked.
“If provinces were to agree to mutual recognition around all items, this would really start to bring down these barriers and unlock some economic growth at a time when we really need to do that,” Anderson said.