Scott Moe invites all Canadian premiers to join western trade partnership
New West Partnership Trade Agreement came into effect in 2010
In the push to reduce barriers to interprovincial trade, Sask. Premier Scott Moe is inviting all provinces to join the New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA).
The NWPTA was established in 2010 by Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., with Manitoba joining in 2017.
"Through the NWPTA, member provinces have committed to fully recognize or reconcile rules affecting trade, investment, and labour mobility, allowing for Canada's largest barrier-free interprovincial market," Moe posted on X on Wednesday, along with a copy of his letter to the other premiers.
On Thursday, he touted the invitation at an event at Crestline, a manufacturing company in Saskatoon that builds buses for public transit, health care, shuttle, tour and charter industries.
Crestline president Steve Hoffrage said in a news release that the NWPTA creates "a more competitive environment that benefits businesses, workers and consumers alike."
According to the government news release, Saskatchewan is a "national leader" on the push for freer trade, "with some of the fewest exceptions of any province" within the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.
Since U.S. President Donald Trump started his tariff war with Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premiers have been talking about strengthening internal trade. Experts say that's still a work in progress.
While it has some flaws, the NWPTA is "among the most ambitious regional trade agreements ever enacted in Canada," University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe wrote in an analysis published last month.
"Although the commitment is ambitious and the agreement's text is quite encouraging, there are many ways in which it has fallen short of true mutual recognition, and significant barriers remain between these jurisdictions," he wrote.
Tombe said recent research has shown the effect of the NWPTA to be that interprovincial trade costs declined by 2.3 per cent.
