We need to get serious about freeing up interprovincial trade once and for all
July 1st marked five years since the coming into force of the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), whose goal (its website tells us) is to “establish an open, efficient, and stable domestic market” in Canada. Has there been any progress in the half-decade since then in reducing and eliminating barriers to interprovincial free trade? According…
We must free internal trade, reform banking and telecommunications and increase incentives for retraining
By Sara MacIntyre and Marco Navarro-Genie Frontier Centre for Public Policy Canadians want change. It’s been more than a generation since we’ve felt the kind of overreaching power of government we’ve experienced in the past year. Daily freedoms have been curtailed, millions of livelihoods impaired, savings drained and countless fines and arrests created for new…
Canada’s GDP per capita would increase by 3.8 per cent simply by removing interprovincial trade barriers
By Olivier Rancourt and Krystle Wittevrongel MEI The theme of the post-COVID-19 economic recovery is on everyone’s lips, and there’s no shortage of debate about what should be done. According to some, the government should raise taxes on the rich, as if this were a way to promote growth. For others, this is an opportunity…
Four areas of focus – now and in the coming years – are interprovincial trade, streamlined taxation, immigration and innovation
Social engineers are eager for Canadians to buy into the same madness touted across the globe for post-pandemic recovery: more government spending. Now is precisely when technocrats must take a back seat and let markets take the wheel. On Nov. 30, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland presented the 2020 Fall Economic Statement to Parliament. The report…
A private member’s bill in Ottawa is offering Canadians a renewed chance to ‘free the beer’
Interprovincial alcohol distribution in Canada has always been a nightmare. For our wineries, breweries and spirit makers, selling alcohol to Americans is easier than selling to consumers outside their own province. Many Canadian alcoholic products like wines, beers and spirits have won international prestigious awards but can’t be sold to most Canadians. It’s simply ridiculous.…
A number of restrictions inhibit labour mobility, as well as the free trade of goods and services. And trade barriers add regulatory burdens on businesses
By Ben Eisen and Alex Whalen The Fraser Institute When many people think about threats to free and open trade to Canada, they immediately consider the protectionist outlook of departing U.S. President Donald Trump. In 2020, another obstacle to the free movement of products and people across boundaries has been the COVID-19 pandemic. However, even…
Alberta’s consumers, businesses and governments were responsible for $31.4 billion of Ontario’s total interprovincial trade in 2016 alone
By Mark Milke and Ven Venkatachalam Canadian Energy Centre “All politics is local,” as 1980s-era U.S. House of Representatives leader Tip O’Neill put it. O’Neill’s point was straightforward: Voters care about what affects them. That, naturally, is where politicians then aim their promises and rhetoric. What’s true in politics is also true of the economy:…
If the European Union with 27 very diverse countries and several languages can do it, why can't Canada?
COVID-19 is still running rampant in many countries, is accelerating in Quebec and Ontario and has recently hospitalized the president of the United States. But in British Columbia, we’re hoping we can avoid a second wave this winter. We’re starting to turn our attention from immediate medical issues to the longer term challenge that the…
Eliminating trade barriers can help accelerate the economic recovery
By Alex Whalen and Ben Eisen The Fraser Institute Earlier this summer, the four Atlantic provinces formed the “Atlantic Bubble” as the region works toward freer movement of people amid the COVID crisis. And clearly, the pandemic’s effect on the economy underscores the value of free movement of people and goods, which – on the…
We are too dependent on two of our top three customers: the U.S. and China. And both of these are increasingly hostile
Canada relies on exports. In any given year, about 45 per cent of our economy is in foreign trade. For much of the past, our exports have been mainly in the agriculture and resources sectors. These are still important, but services (think international education), manufactured goods (e.g. Lululemon clothing) and technology (e.g. the Canadarm robotic…