André Furtado

The following is an open letter from Canada’s business leaders to Canada’s First Ministers following their June 2 meeting in Saskatoon.

June 3, 2025

Better late than never. After decades of calling for an end to costly and inefficient interprovincial trade barriers, Canada’s business leaders are encouraged to see some concrete progress from first ministers.

Let’s not lose the momentum.

These barriers add costs, complexity and frustration to companies wanting to sell their goods and services in Canada. While we are rightly concerned about international tariffs, let’s remember that internal trade barriers impose tariffs of their own. They represent roughly a seven per cent increase to the cost of goods in our country – that’s equivalent to adding a second GST, and then some, to products and services. It not only hurts consumers, but it reduces the amount of money companies can invest in their communities, operations and employees.

As business leaders representing thousands of companies of all sizes, we are calling on our federal, provincial, and territorial leaders to develop permanent solutions to removing internal trade barriers once and for all. The size of the prize is worth pursuing. Some experts estimate that $200 billion could be added to the Canadian economy annually after barriers are removed.

Antiquated rules and regulations make it difficult to move between provinces for new job opportunities, reduce consumer options, stifle competition and ultimately make Canada less competitive. Removing them could see household income and wages increase nationally by five and 5.5 per cent, respectively.

Numerous reports have documented the benefits to be gained from freer trade in Canada. Now we need to see actual progress through improved collaboration across governments and with the private sector. Several provinces have taken action recently and we applaud premiers for moving forward with speed in their efforts to find ways to remove barriers. Goods and services should be automatically accepted in jurisdictions that agree to recognize each other’s regulations and standards for goods, services and professional accreditation.

Mutual recognition is a practical alternative to removing trade barriers compared to harmonizing regulations across all provinces through the Canada Free Trade Agreement (CFTA). Make no mistake, the CFTA is the biggest advancement Canada has made to liberalize trade across the country. However, the list of exceptions under the agreement by province and territory remains long, with trade barriers increasing rather than decreasing in six provinces since the CFTA came into force in 2017. The consensus-based approach to removing trade barriers through the agreement remains painfully complex and time consuming.

As representatives of the private sector, we realize that some provinces may have challenges in dropping certain barriers and it is up to business leaders and the federal government to support them along the way. We are committed to this work.

Provinces, on the other hand, can move with urgency by creating bilateral agreements as we’ve seen from some provinces recently. The New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA) is another compelling model for provincial policymakers wanting to pursue a regional rather than bilateral approach to removing trade barriers.

Formalized in 2010, the NWPTA facilitates cross-border business for buyers, sellers, investors, and workers. Participating provinces – British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba – must give all goods, people, services and investors “treatment no less favourable than the best treatment it accords to its own.”

The window for excuses should be closed. Provinces have plenty of choices when it comes to removing internal trade barriers. Creating new bilateral agreements or joining existing agreements are two of them. Choosing to do nothing, preserving carveouts or exceptions is no longer an option.

While recent bilateral agreements have breathed new life into this file, we should strive for more. This is a national problem that deserves national solutions. We need to avoid a patchwork quilt of differing bilateral agreements in which goods and services are recognized as compliant in some provinces but not others.

The federal government is trying to lead by example. An ambitious effort is underway to remove federal barriers to internal trade by July 1. This is an important step forward and, in our view, demonstrates the sense of urgency required to help companies expand and succeed in Canada first, boosting confidence and giving them a better shot at winning in foreign markets.

But the federal government’s role shouldn’t end on July 1. Rather, it should continue to act with purpose and resolve by offering strategic inducements to provinces that are grudgingly slow to remove their barriers or longstanding exceptions under the CFTA or elsewhere. As representatives of the private sector, we realize that some provinces may have challenges in dropping certain barriers and it is up to business leaders and the federal government to support them along the way. We are committed to this work.

Let’s finally lighten the load and lower the costs for Canadians by removing interprovincial trade barriers once and for all.

Signed,

Diane J. Brisebois, President and CEO, Retail Council of Canada

Tabatha Bull, President and CEO, Canadian Council for Indigenous Business

Dennis Darby, President and CEO, Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters

Goldy Hyder, President and CEO, Business Council of Canada

Dan Kelly, President and CEO, Canadian Federation of Independent Business

Candace Laing, President and CEO, Canadian Chamber of Commerce