Latest news with #McMillanVantage
30-06-2025
- Business
Is Canada now free of internal trade barriers? Not yet, says expert
Federal and provincial leaders are working to dismantle internal trade barriers that push up the cost of goods and make it harder to do business within Canada. But anyone expecting all of them to be gone by tomorrow should read the fine print, experts say. Throughout the spring federal election campaign, Mark Carney as Liberal leader repeatedly vowed to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers and create free trade by Canada Day. The rhetoric has been at times confusing and the political scorecard on this one is hard to track. With July 1 just a day away, Carney's government has passed its planned changes into law — but it's more like the start of a conversation than the final word, says internal trade expert Ryan Manucha. It's a starting gun and it's starting a lot more activity and work, which is honestly the really exciting part, said Manucha. If any of this was easy, it would have been done. Manucha writes on the topic for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think-tank and authored the book Booze, Cigarettes, and Constitutional Dust-Ups: Canada's Quest for Interprovincial Trade . When I'm advising governments, I say, 'Don't think of this as a light switch, ' he said. We are changing the way that everyone approaches the concept of regulation and risk here, and so it's going to take some time. The rush to break down internal barriers to trade comes in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war with Canada. One study estimates that existing internal trade hurdles cost the economy some $200 billion a year. Manucha said Canada has talked about this problem for decades but is only addressing it seriously now — and it would never have happened had we not had Trump. He said the introduction of the Carney government's bill on internal trade was incredible to see because the idea was just an academic theory maybe even as little as eight months ago. Bill C-5, the omnibus bill that reduces federal restrictions on interprovincial trade and also speeds up permitting for large infrastructure projects, became law on June 26. An analysis of the law by McMillan Vantage says that this legislation would not achieve the elimination of all internal trade barriers. Provinces hold power When Carney made his campaign promise, he was talking about cutting red tape put up by the federal government — not the rules set by the provinces, which have the most authority in this area. The prime minister described this effort as a sort of quid pro quo with the provinces. We're getting rid of a bunch of duplicative federal regulations. We're going to have a principle of one project, one review — and in exchange, they're going to agree to eliminate all the barriers to trade and labour mobility, Carney said at a rally in Kitchener, Ont., on March 26. The federal government committed that we will sweep away all of our impediments by Canada Day. Free trade by Canada Day. WATCH | Why are provincial trade barriers still a thing? Début du widget Widget. Passer le widget ? Fin du widget Widget. Retourner au début du widget ? Why are provincial trade barriers still a thing? More interprovincial trade is being touted as one potential countermeasure to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff threats, but complicated barriers stand in the way. CBC's Ellen Mauro breaks down why free trade within Canada is so difficult and what needs to happen to get more goods flowing across the country. But Canada's internal trade barriers won't all be eliminated by then — not even all the federal ones. Canada's supply management system for dairy products, which sets provincial production quotas, will remain in place. Quebec also retains language requirements that will stay in place. Credit unions have complained that the new law does not break down barriers to their expansion into multiple provinces. Nova Scotia reducing trade barriers with 5 provinces (new window) But just how many federal barriers does the bill eliminate? That's hard to sort out. A lot of the details will have to wait until regulations are drafted — a process that will involve consultations with affected industries. I don't really know what this legislation could end up doing because a lot of veto power, a lot of discretion still rests with the regulatory authorities, Manucha said. According to the text of that legislation, it would seem like meat inspection would come off. Is [the Canadian Food Inspection Agency] really going to allow for interprovincial trade and inspection of meat coming from non-federally licensed abattoirs? I don't know. Lack of consensus There is no comprehensive list of existing internal trade barriers. Even some lobby groups have told parliamentarians they don't know how many barriers their own industries face. There isn't even consensus on what all counts as a trade barrier. In the provincial legislation in Ontario, they're talking, for many occupations, [of] having a 30-day service standard for how long it'll take for credentials to be recognized, Manucha said. Nova Scotia, meanwhile, is on the 10-day turnaround time. That's less than a third. Can you call the 30-day versus 10-day a trade barrier? Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has repeatedly stated that most of the barriers are at the provincial level, testified to the Senate that she will meet with her provincial counterparts on July 8 to discuss next steps. One major obstacle is in Freeland's crosshairs: Canada's patchwork of interprovincial trucking regulations. One of three areas that I will be putting on the agenda at that meeting is trucking, she said on June 16. It should be a lot easier than it is to drive a truck from Halifax to Vancouver. We need to get rid of conflicting requirements. Kyle Duggan (new window) · The Canadian Press
Winnipeg Free Press
30-06-2025
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Is Canada now free of internal trade barriers? Read the fine print
OTTAWA – Federal and provincial leaders are working to dismantle internal trade barriers that push up the cost of goods and make it harder to do business within Canada. But anyone expecting all of them to be gone by tomorrow should read the fine print. Throughout the spring federal election campaign, Liberal Leader Mark Carney repeatedly vowed to 'eliminate' interprovincial trade barriers and create 'free trade by Canada Day.' The rhetoric has been at times confusing and the political scorecard on this one is hard to track. With July 1 just a day away, Carney's government has passed its planned changes into law — but it's more like the start of a conversation than the final word. 'It's a starting gun and it's starting a lot more activity and work, which is honestly the really exciting part,' said internal trade expert Ryan Manucha. 'If any of this was easy, it would have been done.' Manucha writes on the topic for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank and authored the book, 'Booze, Cigarettes, and Constitutional Dust-Ups: Canada's Quest for Interprovincial Trade.' 'When I'm advising governments, I say, 'Don't think of this as a light switch,'' he said. 'We are changing the way that everyone approaches the concept of regulation and risk here, and so it's going to take some time.' The rush to break down internal barriers to trade comes in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war with Canada. One study estimates that existing internal trade hurdles cost the economy some $200 billion a year. Manucha said Canada has talked about this problem for decades but is only addressing it seriously now — and it would 'never have happened had we not had Trump.' He said the introduction of the Carney government's bill on internal trade was 'incredible to see' because the idea was just 'an academic theory maybe even as little as eight months ago.' Bill C-5, the omnibus bill that reduces federal restrictions on interprovincial trade and also speeds up permitting for large infrastructure projects, became law on June 26. An analysis of the law by McMillan Vantage says that 'this legislation would not achieve' the elimination of all internal trade barriers. When Carney made his campaign promise, he was talking about cutting red tape put up by the federal government — not the rules set by the provinces, which have the most authority in this area. The prime minister described this effort as a sort of quid pro quo with the provinces. 'We're getting rid of a bunch of duplicative federal regulations. We're going to have a principle of one project, one review — and in exchange, they're going to agree to eliminate all the barriers to trade and labour mobility,' Carney said at a rally in Kitchener, Ont., on March 26. 'The federal government committed that we will sweep away all of our impediments by Canada Day. Free trade by Canada Day.' But Canada's internal trade barriers won't all be eliminated by then — not even all the federal ones. Canada's supply management system for dairy products, which sets provincial production quotas, will remain in place. Quebec also retains language requirements that will stay in place. Credit unions have complained that the new law does not break down barriers to their expansion into multiple provinces. Bill C-5 aligns federal requirements for goods and services with provincial ones if they cross provincial or territorial borders. It allows the provincial requirement to replace a federal one if the rules are 'comparable.' Ottawa likes to point to energy efficiency standards. A washing machine made in B.C. that meets the provincial standard still needs to meet additional federal standards before it can be sold in Alberta or Ontario. But this new law means the B.C. standard would replace the federal one. The law also eliminates redundant licensing requirements for labourers. Federal regulators would have to recognize provincial occupational certifications. So just how many federal barriers does the bill eliminate? That's hard to sort out. A lot of the details will have to wait until regulations are drafted — a process that will involve consultations with affected industries. 'I don't really know what this legislation could end up doing because a lot of veto power, a lot a discretion still rests with the regulatory authorities,' Manucha said. 'According to the text of that legislation, it would seem like meat inspection would come off. Is (the Canadian Food Inspection Agency) really going to allow for interprovincial trade and inspection of meat coming from non-federally licensed abattoirs? I don't know.' There is no comprehensive list of existing internal trade barriers. Even some lobby groups have told parliamentarians they don't know how many barriers their own industries face. There isn't even consensus on what all counts as a trade barrier. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. 'In the provincial legislation in Ontario, they're talking for many occupations having a 30-day service standard for how long it'll take for credentials to be recognized,' Manucha said. 'Nova Scotia, meanwhile, is on the 10-day turnaround time. That's less than a third. Can you call the 30-day versus 10-day a trade barrier?' Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has repeatedly stated that most of the barriers are at the provincial level, testified to the Senate that she will meet with her provincial counterparts on July 8 to discuss next steps. One major obstacle is in Freeland's crosshairs: Canada's patchwork of interprovincial trucking regulations. 'One of three areas that I will be putting on the agenda at that meeting is trucking,' she said on June 16. 'It should be a lot easier than it is to drive a truck from Halifax to Vancouver. We need to get rid of conflicting requirements.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.
Hamilton Spectator
30-06-2025
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Is Canada now free of internal trade barriers? Read the fine print
OTTAWA - Federal and provincial leaders are working to dismantle internal trade barriers that push up the cost of goods and make it harder to do business within Canada. But anyone expecting all of them to be gone by tomorrow should read the fine print. Throughout the spring federal election campaign, Liberal Leader Mark Carney repeatedly vowed to 'eliminate' interprovincial trade barriers and create 'free trade by Canada Day.' The rhetoric has been at times confusing and the political scorecard on this one is hard to track. With July 1 just a day away, Carney's government has passed its planned changes into law — but it's more like the start of a conversation than the final word. 'It's a starting gun and it's starting a lot more activity and work, which is honestly the really exciting part,' said internal trade expert Ryan Manucha. 'If any of this was easy, it would have been done.' Manucha writes on the topic for the Macdonald-Laurier Institute think tank and authored the book, 'Booze, Cigarettes, and Constitutional Dust-Ups: Canada's Quest for Interprovincial Trade.' 'When I'm advising governments, I say, 'Don't think of this as a light switch,'' he said. 'We are changing the way that everyone approaches the concept of regulation and risk here, and so it's going to take some time.' The rush to break down internal barriers to trade comes in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff war with Canada. One study estimates that existing internal trade hurdles cost the economy some $200 billion a year. Manucha said Canada has talked about this problem for decades but is only addressing it seriously now — and it would 'never have happened had we not had Trump.' He said the introduction of the Carney government's bill on internal trade was 'incredible to see' because the idea was just 'an academic theory maybe even as little as eight months ago.' Bill C-5, the omnibus bill that reduces federal restrictions on interprovincial trade and also speeds up permitting for large infrastructure projects, became law on June 26. An analysis of the law by McMillan Vantage says that 'this legislation would not achieve' the elimination of all internal trade barriers. When Carney made his campaign promise, he was talking about cutting red tape put up by the federal government — not the rules set by the provinces, which have the most authority in this area. The prime minister described this effort as a sort of quid pro quo with the provinces. 'We're getting rid of a bunch of duplicative federal regulations. We're going to have a principle of one project, one review — and in exchange, they're going to agree to eliminate all the barriers to trade and labour mobility,' Carney said at a rally in Kitchener, Ont., on March 26. 'The federal government committed that we will sweep away all of our impediments by Canada Day. Free trade by Canada Day.' But Canada's internal trade barriers won't all be eliminated by then — not even all the federal ones. Canada's supply management system for dairy products, which sets provincial production quotas, will remain in place. Quebec also retains language requirements that will stay in place. Credit unions have complained that the new law does not break down barriers to their expansion into multiple provinces. Bill C-5 aligns federal requirements for goods and services with provincial ones if they cross provincial or territorial borders. It allows the provincial requirement to replace a federal one if the rules are 'comparable.' Ottawa likes to point to energy efficiency standards. A washing machine made in B.C. that meets the provincial standard still needs to meet additional federal standards before it can be sold in Alberta or Ontario. But this new law means the B.C. standard would replace the federal one. The law also eliminates redundant licensing requirements for labourers. Federal regulators would have to recognize provincial occupational certifications. So just how many federal barriers does the bill eliminate? That's hard to sort out. A lot of the details will have to wait until regulations are drafted — a process that will involve consultations with affected industries. 'I don't really know what this legislation could end up doing because a lot of veto power, a lot a discretion still rests with the regulatory authorities,' Manucha said. 'According to the text of that legislation, it would seem like meat inspection would come off. Is (the Canadian Food Inspection Agency) really going to allow for interprovincial trade and inspection of meat coming from non-federally licensed abattoirs? I don't know.' There is no comprehensive list of existing internal trade barriers. Even some lobby groups have told parliamentarians they don't know how many barriers their own industries face. There isn't even consensus on what all counts as a trade barrier. 'In the provincial legislation in Ontario, they're talking for many occupations having a 30-day service standard for how long it'll take for credentials to be recognized,' Manucha said. 'Nova Scotia, meanwhile, is on the 10-day turnaround time. That's less than a third. Can you call the 30-day versus 10-day a trade barrier?' Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland, who has repeatedly stated that most of the barriers are at the provincial level, testified to the Senate that she will meet with her provincial counterparts on July 8 to discuss next steps. One major obstacle is in Freeland's crosshairs: Canada's patchwork of interprovincial trucking regulations. 'One of three areas that I will be putting on the agenda at that meeting is trucking,' she said on June 16. 'It should be a lot easier than it is to drive a truck from Halifax to Vancouver. We need to get rid of conflicting requirements.' This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 30, 2025.
Toronto Star
14-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
Tariffs have changed Ontario budget approach, Ford says
TORONTO - Ontario is set to table its budget Thursday and Premier Doug Ford is signalling it will include a lot of infrastructure spending and measures to stimulate the economy, saying U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs will be a major factor. 'We have to look at it through a different lens now, since these tariffs have been put on us,' he said Wednesday. 'You have two options in a budget. You start cutting and slashing, which I've never believed (in). In tougher times, you go out there, you put money into infrastructure, keep building the hospitals that we're doing, and the highways and the bridges and the roads and the schools and long-term care homes and really building the infrastructure. We can always balance (in) a year or two.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW The province's last major fiscal update, the fall economic statement, had eyed a balanced budget for 2026-27, but that came before the election of Trump and the implementation of tariffs. Ford is now suggesting that path to balance will be a bit different. That was precisely the mandate he was given in the recent provincial election – which he called by saying he needed to ask the electorate before spending tens of billions of dollars in response to tariffs – said Karl Baldauf, partner at public affairs firm McMillan Vantage and a former chief of staff to Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy. 'Everything is changing right now, and that goes for the fiscal situation of the province, the economic situation of the province, and even our culture as Ontarians and as Canadians, how we're viewing our neighbours to the south,' Baldauf said. 'I think a lot of the narrative to the budget will be shaped by how does the province confront that threat.' Ford and Bethlenfalvy have already made a few announcements of what will be in the budget, including removing tolls from the eastern, provincially owned portion of Highway 407 and making a gas tax cut permanent. It will also include up to $300 million to build up to 17 new and expanded community-based primary care teaching clinics in communities where high rates of people don't have a family doctor or nurse practitioner. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW As well, the budget will include an expansion to a manufacturing investment tax credit, and deferring select provincial taxes for businesses for six months. The government will also tout a $2-billion rebate the Workplace Safety and Insurance Board is issuing to safe employers as another way to protect jobs. A recent report from Ontario's Financial Accountability Office said American tariffs will reduce demand for Ontario's exports, slowing real GDP growth from the projected 1.7 per cent to 0.6 per cent, which 'implies that a modest recession would occur in 2025.' The FAO estimated that the tariffs would result in 68,100 fewer jobs in Ontario in 2025. The effects on jobs and the GDP could vary by quite a bit, however, depending on whether existing tariffs, such as on steel, aluminum and automobiles, are reduced – or if additional ones, such as on copper or pharmaceuticals, are enacted. Canada's retaliatory actions would also play a role. NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the budget is 'a true test of this moment.' 'Not only do we expect to see those infrastructure dollars being spent in areas of real, critical need in Ontario, but we want to see the government talk about how we're going to build new supply chains, how we're going to tariff-proof our province,' she said. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'A lot of that also involves making sure that Ontarians have access to the best-quality health care, the best schools, a strong post-secondary education system.' Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said she hopes the budget includes tax cuts, like the ones she promised during the election. 'In addition, we're looking for more investment in education in the budget, especially funding for our colleges and universities that have been relying on foreign students that obviously have been cut back,' she said. 'Then finally, not only affordability measures with respect to tax cuts, but also with housing.' Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner said he hopes the budget contains solutions that are grounded in reality. 'I don't want to see hundreds of billions of dollars wasted on a ridiculous tunnel under the 401 when we have cheaper solutions to traffic, like paying the tolls for truckers on the 407,' he said. The Ford government is seeking proposals for a feasibility study for the tunnel, but the premier has pledged to get it built no matter what. This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2025.
