Removal of B.C.’s trade barriers would boost Canada’s GDP

There are staggering new numbers that show the ripple effect on Canada’s bottom line if B.C. got rid of trade barriers with other provinces.

“If British Columbia were to adopt a similar bill to those of Nova Scotia, Ontario, and Prince Edward Island, or sign mutual recognition agreements with all Canadian provinces, the country’s economy could grow by an estimated $50.2 billion,” an analysis by the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI) stated.

It finds that if trade barriers were slashed between B.C. and Alberta alone, the economic spin-off would be $25.7 billion.

Renaud Brossard, vice-president of communications at the MEI, tells 1130 NewsRadio that the impact of the report is huge, and is being sent to Premier David Eby’s office.

“This is both in terms of wage increases on the one hand, because businesses would be more competitive, they would be able to find the right talent to fit the right needs, but also in terms of price decreases as less time and money would be spent on meeting different regulatory hurdles that vary by province and more time would be spent actually trading with each other which would help drive down the cost of goods,” he explained.

Brossard adds that trade barriers should never have existed in Canada, and this obstacle is only coming to light because of ongoing threats from the U.S. president and a trade war inflicted on Canada by our neighbours to the south.

“A good part of the problem comes from the approach. The approach that has been taken historically is to create harmonized regulations between every single jurisdiction, and the problem that creates is when it comes to going to the negotiating table, every province says, ‘Yes, we agree that trade should be liberalized, but every province should follow our regulations.’ And since every single province asks for the same thing, we’ve been stuck in a deadlock.”

Nova Scotia is among the three provinces to have already taken steps to increase trade across the country. Last month, Premier Tim Houston confirmed it was taking action.

“Leaders across the country are expressing interest in removing trade barriers, and I’m very pleased that P.E.I. and Ontario have tabled legislation to remove all their trade barriers,” said Houston on April 16. “This is a significant moment for our country, and these actions say a lot about our commitment to make our economies stronger. This moment is too important to miss for the sake of all Canadians.”

In February, B.C.’s economic development minister said the NDP government was planning to make “substantive changes” to its interprovincial trade barriers. At the time, Diana Gibson said B.C. was preparing to reduce the barriers so goods and services could move more freely to help “unlock economic development,” and support jobs and economic diversity.

She added, B.C. will “do whatever is necessary.” However, months later, not much has changed on that front.

In early May, just days after being swept into office, Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government would look to get rid of interprovincial trade barriers across the country on July 1.