Mixed response to new Yukon government trade policy changes

CBC

3 days ago

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The Yukon government has announced new changes to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement. Effective July 8, it will remove several Yukon-specific clauses from the agreement in an effort to streamline domestic trade.
In a press release last week, officials described the decision as a step that will give Yukon businesses stronger access to markets, investors and opportunities across Canada.
The changes include new limits to the territorial government's ability to control market access to fisheries, forestry and agriculture, and the removal of a residency requirement for real estate agents.
Ranj Pillai, the minister of economic development and former premier, said the move will "cut red tape" and "reduce barriers" to internal trade.
But the step has received a mixed response from the territory's business community.
The government is also dissolving its business incentive policy, which offers rebates for hiring Yukon residents and using Yukon-made goods and services, and also protects the government's ability to prioritize Yukon businesses in its procurement policy.
That caught Hanna Fish, executive director of the Yukon Agricultural Association, off guard. She said local food procurement has been a concern for the agriculture community for awhile.
"We're just wondering how this is going to impact that as we try and build government relationships with local agriculture and if we're going to lose out on further procurement from outside entities."
Yukon farmers have been outspoken about being overlooked in the government procurement process. In April, Energy, Mines and Resources Minister John Streicker told CBC News the government buys a "very low" number of local food products and that "we need to do more," especially in light of U.S. tariffs.
In an emailed statement, Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce executive director Andrei Samson praised efforts to promote interprovincial trade but said the chamber would be monitoring the impacts of the changes closely in the coming weeks.
"With the removal of measures such as the business incentive program — a tool historically intended to support Yukon-based businesses in accessing public contracts — there is a growing need to ensure that local suppliers are not disadvantaged," wrote Samson.
Ceara Crawford is CEO of the Yukon Venture Angels, a group that aims to help grow the Yukon's private sector. She acknowledged the upcoming changes could be "painful" and "challenging" for the local economy, but sees some silver linings.
"With [agriculture] tech or forestry, these are industries that we are still working on and learning about that are much more developed in other parts of Canada," she said. "I hope that we're able to approach those who do enter the market — which sounds almost inevitable — so that we can learn from them and be able to grow our local businesses as well.
"But we do have this risk of losing the Yukon-specific ownership and losing that community wealth."
The business incentive program currently covers 15 per cent of wages for Yukon apprentices and Yukon youth, and up to 20 per cent of wages and benefits for Yukon construction workers.
Both Crawford and Fish told CBC News the government should have made an effort to consult with businesses and discuss possible impacts of the decision ahead of time. Crawford said that might have given businesses the chance to plan ahead.
"I think the biggest thing is that if we're removing economic barriers for others to come up and work here and operate their businesses here, that we must also remove the barriers to investment and ownership of business here," said Crawford.
"If Yukoners don't own those means of production, then we aren't necessarily seeing the monetary benefits."