Scott Moe invites all Canadian premiers to join western trade partnership

Saskatchewan Prime Minister Scott Moe says that the best way to break down commercial barriers between the provinces already exists and the simplest that other ministers must do is sign.

The New West Partnership Trade Actation (NWPTA) was established in 2010 by Saskatchewan, Alberta and BC, with Manitoba by joining in 2017.

With the agreement of the other Western prime ministers, MOE has written letters to the rest of his counterparts inviting them to join the NWPTA, he said in a media event on Thursday in Saskatoon.

“No, this does not solve everything, but it is the clearest and most direct path to free and fair trade, but also the ability of those who work in careers to move through Canada,” Moe said.

The NWPTA reconciles the rules that affect trade, investment and labor mobility. It has more lower acquisition thresholds and less exemptions than the Canadian Free Trade Agreement, and MOE suggested on Thursday that an expanded NWPTA could “essentially” replace the CFTA, which has been in force since 2017.

From The president of the United States, Donald Trump, began his tariff war With Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the ministers have been talking about the strengthening of domestic trade. Experts say it is still a job in progress.

The Federal Government approved Bill C-5, an OMNIBUS bill that reduces federal restrictions to interprovincial trade and accelerates permits for large infrastructure projects, on June 26.

Some provinces have also approved legislation and signature agreements to reduce commercial barriers. For example, Ontario signed separate memoranda of understanding with Saskatchewan, Alberta and Pei on June 1.

All provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, more Yukon, also signed an agreement earlier this month To allow the sale of direct alcohol to the consumer in May 2026.

The current geopolitical situation is uncertain, Moe said, but one of the NWPTA strengths is that “it was not created at a time of crisis.”

He said that the invitation to other provinces has no expiration date.

“We ask the provinces that at least consider it sooner rather than later, and if you consider it beneficial for your province … they sign,” he said.

MOE celebrated its media event in Crestline, a manufacturing company in Saskatoon that builds buses for public transport, medical care, transfers, tours and charter industries. It exports its buses in Canada and worldwide.

Scott Sawatsky, Vice President of Sales and Marketing of CRESLINE, said that expanding free trade and labor mobility is important.

“Saskatchewan is a great province to be, of course, but we need more people here, more talented, from many different sectors, commercial skills to engineering to many different occupations,” he said.

Look | What are the elimination of interprovincial commercial barriers?

What are the elimination of interprovincial commercial barriers?

Michele Cadario, executive vice president of Rubicon Strategy Inc., says that each province has its own commercial legislation, and the federal government does not have the general responsibility to supervise its implementation. She tells BC today the guest host Amy Bell that negotiations must get rid of excess regulation to achieve greater mobility without restrictions in trade.

While it has some defects, the NWPTA is “among the most ambitious regional trade agreements ever promulgated in Canada”, the professor of economy at the University of Calgary Trevor Tombe wrote in an analysis published last month.

“Although the commitment is ambitious and the text of the agreement is quite encouraging, there are many ways in which it has not reached true mutual recognition, and there are significant barriers between these jurisdictions,” he wrote.

Tombe said recent investigations have shown that the NWPTA effect is that interprovincial commercial costs decreased by 2.3 percent.