Perspective
Making Free Trade Work in Canada
FROM:
NOV-DEC 2003 ISSUE
International trade talks have been dominating the headlines recently. Witness the growing conflicts between Canada and the U.S. over such matters as softwood lumber and steel, or the stalled world trade talks on a variety of thorny issues. Of course, tension over international trade is nothing new. When it comes to free trade, talk has always been the easy part. It's the implementation that gets tough.
The same thing holds true
within Canada. Take the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) for instance. The agreement was ratified by Canada's First Ministers in
July 1994 and came into force in
July 1995. That is over eight years ago. And still, experts agree that full implementation of the agreement has a long way to go.
The intention of the accord is to support and encourage the free movement of goods and services across provincial boundaries for the benefit of greater consumer choice, stronger economic growth and ease of labour mobility.
And it's encouraging to note that CGAs across Canada are one of the major beneficiaries of the AIT process to date. Recently
CGA-Canada, working with
CGA-Manitoba and
CGA-Ontario, launched a challenge under the agreement to establish the right of CGAs to practice public accounting in Ontario — something they've been doing for years in Manitoba but are not yet able to do in Ontario. Of course, this restriction in Ontario makes no sense whatsoever, as the panel established to hear the case has determined. The same conclusions were reached by the Ontario government's Red Tape Commission. That's why Ontario, after the passage of
Bill 213, asked Dean Ron Daniels of the University of Toronto's Law Faculty to recommend how to reform Ontario's licensing of public accountants. As of this publication date, Ontario public practice rights for CGAs are one step closer to reality, with the acceptance by the government of the Daniels report, and the commitment to move ahead with enabling legislation to allow qualified CGAs, CMAs and CAs to obtain public accounting licenses.
So let's turn back to the Agreement on Internal Trade itself. The successful AIT challenge mounted by CGAs has shown that the agreement can work if there is the political will. If nothing else, a favourable finding puts considerable pressure on governments to take action against unfair and restrictive interprovincial trade and labour mobility practices.
Now the big question is what should be next on the AIT agenda? At the time of penning this column, Canada's Premiers were scheduled to meet at the end of October in Quebec City. Even though inter-provincial trade is not formally on the agenda, the performance of the Canadian economy is certain to be. And with the economy firmly in number one place on the political agenda, provincial politicians would be well advised to revisit the benefits of freer trade between provinces.
We are pleased that the Canadian Chamber of Commerce concurs. Their recent policy on the issue recognizes the importance of interprovincial trade liberalization and chides all concerned for letting the process stall. In their words, the benefits of trade liberalization far outweigh the political risks.
"In a country where citizens demand lean governments and the efficient provision of services, they (internal trade barriers) artificially raise costs and therefore debt and taxes. [...] More fundamentally, internal trade barriers diminish our sense of nationhood by undermining the benefits Canadians may legitimately expect from belonging to the economic union."
We could not have said it any better. And kudos are due to the Chamber for taking up this important issue.
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