The sizzle energy through the air in Diamond 7 Meats, a small meat processor in Saskatchewan.
An employee is tied with a rope, while another produces pork sausages and a third wraps them on red packaging paper.
But there is one thing that can do business is difficult: an invisible line called the provincial border.
The business is right on the edge of Lloydminster, Sask., About 150 meters from the border with Alberta. It is so close that President Robert Lundquist can see him from the main business door.
But the company cannot sell its products in the nearby Alberta.
Lundquist said that its installation is not certified by the federal government, something that said it would cost millions of dollars to happen, which means that the meat cannot travel through the provincial borders.
It is a pill difficult to swallow when you can see the road that marks the invisible line between the two provinces.
“It’s very frustrating. It’s very frustrating,” Lundquist said.
“We are in a moment in the world where we need to be able to trade within Canada. Some of these barriers are really … archaic.”
The problem has become particularly pressing as the tariff threats of the USA. UU. They continue to throw a dark cloud.
“Everyone is so trapped in the concern for tariffs and the product that move from one side to another to the United States … Maybe this is a time when we should realize that we focus a little on what is happening inside our Canadian borders,” Lundquist said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Mary Carney promised free trade between provinces and territories for Canada’s day.
Berry Alice Pattison farmer includes complications to move food products through provincial borders.
The owner and operator of Fairview Farms, near Marshall, Sask., Approximately 20 kilometers southeast of Lloydminster, can sell their jams and jelly in Alberta because its kitchen is approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
But Pattison said that while I had the resources to do that, not all businesses can.
“It’s a lot of bureaucracy. You have to … finding out exactly what you need to do and some people can find it a bit slow and a bit confusing too,” he said.
Border city
Lloydminster is the only border city in Canada, partially sitting in Alberta and partly in Saskatchewan.
For years, that has meant that companies that cross the border often had to deal with the rules of both provinces, such as insurance policies and professional regulations.
Sometimes he led to difficult situations, according to Blaine Stephan, the former president of the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce.
He referred to a grocery store that had its main location on the city’s Alberta side, but had service stations on the city’s Saskatchewan side.
“They would make sandwiches in their main store and were not allowed to sell them at the four block station,” he said.
Stephan said the bureaucracy prevented companies from thriving.
“Knowing that he has a market as close as his neighbor and they can’t legally buy their product, it was very frustrating … He felt crazy,” he said.
While Canada tries to boost interprovincial trade, CBC News travels to the border city of Lloydminster de Saskatchewan-Alberta, where some business owners say that the bureaucracy makes it too difficult to trade with people who can see from the other side of the street.
In November, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency updated the regulations to allow the free flow of food within the limits of the city of Lloydminster, and Stephan said it has made the difference.
“[People] You can do your job and can do your food, do your job and then sell your products, “he said.
And he said that changes in Lloydminster are evidence that commercial barriers may be eliminated.
“It shows that when the right people arrive at the table, we can create a common sense approach,” Stephan said.
“We have such great products and we want to take them to people who need them.”
As for Lundquist, he sees his calls to commercial barriers to fall as his civic duty.
“I want to improve my business. I want to cultivate and improve it. Improve my community, improve my country,” he said.
