Lately there has been a lot of talk about interprovincial commercial barriers, namely that Canada should eliminate them, with federal and provincial officials who say that opening national trade could soften the impact of possible US tariffs. But what are these barriers and how do our daily life affect?
Imagine that the 13 provinces and territories of Canada are a small country, said Moshe Lander, professor of Economics at the University of Concordia in Montreal.
“Each of which has its own government, its own ability to tax, its own spending decisions, its own regulations on road safety, health standards, educational qualifications: such things, if they differ between one province and another, It is a barrier interprovincial. “
A 2019 IMF report showed that the country was leaving money On the table keeping these barriers in place. In today’s dollars, eliminating them would enhance $ 245 billion to the economy, recently the co -author of the Trevor Tombe report said recently.
So what are some daily interprovincial commercial barriers that can notice or not in your daily life? CBC News compiled a brief list, but there are thousands of them, and it is unlikely that everyone will be eliminated.
“Will we get rid of everything? Don’t be silly,” said former Alberta Prime Minister Rachel Notley, told reporters on Friday.
Barriers drinks
I have probably heard of this: most of Canadian warehouses, breweries and distilleries cannot sell or send consumers directly in other parts of the country. That is why Ottawa beer manufacturers cannot send breweries through the river to Gatineau, which, why you can’t buy whiskey made in Quebec in Nova Scotia, and why, until recently, BC warehouses They could not sell their wine directly to the Alberta. .
Most provinces have their own liquor retailers (such as the Ontario LCBO, Quebec SAQ and the NSLC of Nueva Scotia) that have different rules related to the sale, storage and alcohol labeling: “It is easier to get a wine From Australia to get a BC wine, “Lander said.
Part of why they settled in the first place was that smaller alcohol manufacturers were not squeezed by the competence of other provinces. That reasoning “may have survived its usefulness,” Lander said.
Although there are many alcohol trade barriers, the provinces reached an agreement in 2018 to increase the limits of personal exemption on alcohol, allowing individual Canadians to transport six beer boxes, two boxes of wine and six liters of spirits to through borders.
A Language Lawy
There is a complete list of general exceptions to the Canada Free Trade Agreement, which was signed in 2017 and governs free trade within Canada. Language -related measures are exempt, for example, unless they are a “disguised restriction” in commerce, according to the agreement.
Quebec’s language laws are an example of the resulting commercial barriers, and that province has more exceptions to the CFTA than any other, according to a 2023 index compiled by the group of experts of Montreal Mei.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will meet with Canadian leaders and labor leaders on Friday to discuss the attraction of investment, improve interprovincial trade and respond to the continuous tariff threat of the United States Goldy Hyder, president and CEO of the Business Council of Business Canada, analyzes what expects to go at the summit.
“If you are an English business and want to operate within the province of Quebec, there is a litany of laws, rules and regulations on signaling, whose language is first, proportions of French to English, the needs of employers and employees in employees in communicating, “Lander said.
There are different rules for the products manufactured in Quebec sold in other provincial markets. But Quebec hardened its language laws in 2021, that provincial officials said it was necessary to protect the French language.
Other extravagant commercial barriers
Toilet seat: Ontario says that toilets in construction sites must have “open” seats; Alberta is “neutral in the bathroom.”
Maple syrup: Not all provinces think that their neighbor’s sap is at SNUFF; The arce syrup classification differs throughout the country.
Truck driving: Certain trucks can only be driven at night in BC, but in Alberta, the same trucks are only driven by the day.
Food and agriculture peculiarities
Did you ever notice that the chicken sold in BC is more expensive than in other provinces? This is because the price is established by a provincial chicken board (yes, you read it well). Or that fruits and vegetables are packaged and labeled differently in Quebec compared to Manitoba? Those are just some ways in which food is subject to internal commercial barriers.
That bureaucracy used to exist in Lloydminster, a city that extends to horcajadas on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan. Until recently, I could not sell a Deli Sandwich made on the Alberta side of a grocery cooperative at the city of Saskatchewan of the city without a separate license, irritating hungry residents and food businesses alike. The provinces launched a pilot project that eliminates the barrier, a change was recently permanent.
“It became a matter of ‘OK, we are in the same city, why can’t we trade among ourselves?'” Seorhin Yoo, a senior analyst for interprovincial affairs policies in the Canadian Federation of Independent Business. “We have tons of cities like Lloydminster, where they would really benefit from the free flow of goods and services because they are very close.”
Another example: In the early 2000s, when BC was beaten by a drought, Alberta farmers intervened to share their healthy harvest. The trucks that transport hay between the two provinces hit a problem, having to follow the BC load safety regulations.
Work jump between provinces
Thinking about moving throughout the country for your career? Well, keep your horses: some provinces require additional work to do the same job in a different place.
“Depending on the profession in particular, it can have more or less mobility,” said Andrew Leach, economist at the University of Alberta. “You may be able to work in another province with your certification. You may have to update your certification, you may have to do a different training.”
Call it an occupational danger. A nurse trained in Ontario, for example, may need to do additional courses to practice in Manitoba; A psychologist certified in Alberta may need more training to work in New Scotland; And Quebec lawyers cannot practice outside their province because it has its own civil code (and the rest of Canada follows the common law).
There has been some movement on this front: the British columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba signed their own mini-accumulation in 2010, eliminating most of the barriers to trade between these four Western provinces, including those that hinder labor mobility.
