On July 1, 2017, federal, provincial and territorial leaders announced to great fanfare the official start of the Canada Free Trade Agreement. A year later, the pact has done next to nothing to eliminate internal trade barriers.
Likewise, at last week’s gathering of the Council of the Federation – it was New Brunswick’s turn to host the annual meeting of premiers and territorial leaders – there was talk of a deal to increase the amount of beer, wine and booze Canadians can take across provincial and territorial lines. In the end, the leaders couldn’t even agree on that and instead settled on a vague promise to think about the question again in the future.
The premiers talk a good game about liberalizing trade within Canada – which is at least partly the point of having a country – but when the moment comes to shift their protectionist postures, it happens at a pace so sloth-like as to be imperceptible.
Sure, they’ve managed to agree on uniform standards for things such as size and weight restrictions in the trucking industry, and common standards for abattoirs and first-aid courses. Manitoba Premier Brian Pallister termed it “a tremendous achievement."
But when agreement remains elusive on the big issues, let alone on issues of comparatively minor consequence such as booze, the correct term is “tremendous failure.”
It long ago became an article of faith that questions of interprovincial trade are difficult, and maybe even insoluble. They’re not. If this permanently squabbling family of premiers occasionally followed up their grand pronouncements, they might be pleasantly surprised at how simple it can be.
Instead, we will be treated to a First Ministers’ conference in the fall, during which Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will try his own hand at rounding up this herd of cats. Good luck to him.
In the meantime, the provinces and territories are going to launch a campaign to sweet-talk the United States on the mutual benefits of a renewed North American free-trade agreement.
Given they can’t even trade freely among themselves, it’s not clear why anyone will bother listening.