N.B. premier optimistic about inter-provincial free trade following first ministers' meeting
Premiers from around the country met in Saskatoon this week
New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt is hoping to see plenty of movement toward free trade over the next month, but one business group says the province could be doing more.
Following meetings with Prime Minister Mark Carney and other premiers in Saskatoon, Holt said she's optimistic that common ground can be found to allow greater mobility of goods and skilled labour across the country.
"New Brunswick's been sort of at the table pushing the group at the federal, provincial and territorial table to move aggressively on this," she told reporters Monday night.
Carney has promised federal legislation targeting barriers under Ottawa's jurisdiction by Canada Day, which could target anything from energy efficiency standards to environmental and regulatory assessments on major projects.
But he praised provinces for how they've been working to reduce barriers to trade.
"I can't keep up with the flurry of announcements of free trade agreements between provinces across the country," he said.
"The federal government will do its part tabling legislation very shortly to eliminate federal barriers to inter-provincial movement of goods and people and also to put in place an ability to advance projects of national interest."
So far, New Brunswick has dropped a number of procurement exemptions for provincial agencies and has signed memorandums of understanding (MOU) with Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador to explore greater labour mobility.
The province has also passed legislation allowing for greater sales of out-of-province alcohol, but that will require agreement from other provinces to take effect.
Another piece of legislation will smooth out licensing requirements for regulated workers who are certified in other provinces, allowing them to work while applying for certification with the corresponding New Brunswick body.
However, the Atlantic vice-president with the Canadian Federation of Independent Business said the province could go further, by recognizing certification in other provinces.
"Essentially the province is allowing people to come in to work, but it's in view of getting their certification," said Louis-Philippe Gauthier.
"Our contention would be that if somebody is certified by a professional association in one province, they should be allowed to practise in another. That's just a simple reality."
Provinces like Nova Scotia and Ontario are at various stages of passing legislation to do just that.
A number of MOUs have been signed between individual provinces, as they look to drop restrictions over certain goods and services. Holt has even proposed an Atlantic free trade zone, with no trade restrictions among neighbouring provinces.
While Gauthier said the momentum is positive, he warns that a new patchwork of differing agreements may not be much better than the free trade agreement the provinces have now.
"Allowing the government to still impose restrictions just creates a Canadian trade agreement 2.0, where we're just going to see 169 different MOUs signed between each and every province and territory and that's not necessarily desirable," he said.
"Right now we have momentum, there's a desire, there's political support for moving forward and hopefully all the provinces will find a way without maintaining or adding restrictions."
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