Provincial trade barriers costing economy billions: report

[Azure]

The Canadian economy is losing billions a year because of interprovincial trade barriers, a new Senate report warns after a promised March deadline for a national deal has quietly passed without any explanation from Ottawa or the provinces.

Titled “Tear down these walls,” the report by the Senate committee on banking, trade and commerce states that the failure of negotiations to date is “baffling” and “unacceptable.”

At issue is the fact that businesses and workers face different rules in different provinces when it comes to where products can be shipped and sold. There are also long-standing problems related to services and the professional qualifications an employee needs to obtain when switching provinces.

The Senate released a cheeky top 10 list illustrating the biggest problems caused by internal trade barriers, including different beer bottle size standards, a range of reporting standards for maple syrup and “un-brie-lievable” rules that ban the sale of Quebec’s unpasteurized cheeses in other provinces.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/...ticle30447834/

I'm not even in the least bit surprised. Unreal how we can't figure this out.

[oilyfan]

It is quite insane. It is surprising to me how many barriers I have encountered in the business I have worked in - different tax rules, regulations on trans province shipments, different road rules etc...

If we can't figure it out, how can we be pissed off with the US about putting up trade barriers?

[CaptainCrunch]

We're not a country anymore, we're a loose confederation of jerks.

[Street Pharmacist]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

We're not a country anymore, we're a loose confederation of jerks.

I laughed way, way too hard at this. Sorry Cap'n, I'm stealing this for casual conversation

[LanceUppercut]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

We're not a country anymore, we're a loose confederation of jerks.

Logged in to thank this. Also, I'm stealing it as well.

[SebC]

Pipeline resistance alone is an interprovincial free-trade barrier that costs billions alone. That has to be included as a huge part of the problem.