Interprovincial trade barriers falling but challenges remain: experts

The collapse of talks with the United States has brought attention to the need for reducing trade barriers within Canada, although experts warn that this is not an easy task. Recently, efforts to boost interprovincial trade have intensified, including a recent meeting of federal, provincial, and territorial trade officials in Iqaluit.

At the meeting, nine provinces agreed to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales across provincial boundaries, demonstrating progress in addressing a specific aspect of the alcohol industry. However, challenges remain in eliminating additional charges and rules imposed on producers, which hinder the goal of opening up trade within Canada.

The potential benefits of simplifying domestic trade are significant, with estimates suggesting that removing internal trade barriers could increase Canada's real gross domestic product by over seven percent, or approximately $210 billion, in the long term. The Canadian Federation of Independent Businesses, while welcoming the renewed push for removing provincial barriers, emphasizes the need to delve deeper into the details and address the complexities of each province's operations.

University of Ottawa professor Wolfgang Alschner is taking a systematic approach to identifying and addressing unnecessary regulatory differences across the country, using artificial intelligence to catalog the 17,000-plus regulatory texts in Canada and streamline the process.