QUESTION PERIOD — Intergovernmental Affairs
Interprovincial Trade
February 6, 2020
Honourable senators, my question is for the Government Representative in the Senate.
First of all, congratulations, Senator Gold, to you on your appointment in this position. I look forward to working with you and your colleagues.
In Canada, we have been long burdened with unnecessary barriers to interprovincial trade. Our provinces and territories often function in silos, which limit the ability of our agricultural industry to reach its full potential. In the most recent election, the Prime Minister campaigned on a promise to reduce internal trade barriers. The Standing Senate Committee on Agriculture and Forestry also made calls to address this issue in a recent report on growing Canada’s value-added food sector. One example of a barrier is different trucking regulations causing trucks to have to stop between provinces to change tires.
Does the government have plans to implement the recommendations of the Agriculture Committee’s report and address these inconsistent laws and regulations across the provinces in order to allow Canadian agriculture to flourish?
Thank you very much for the question; I appreciate it in many ways. As an old-school, pre-Charter constitutional lawyer, to talk about interprovincial barriers to trade and federalism, you make me feel at home as I otherwise do in this chamber.
It also gives me an opportunity to report to the Senate that which you already know. The Senate reports and the work we do in committee are not only well-respected by Canadians, often cited — as our former colleague Senator Baker would remind us — four times more in Supreme Court decisions than the House of Commons, but one of the most gratifying things since I’ve taken on this position and, indeed, became a senator, is how many times members of Parliament and members of the cabinet congratulate us as a Senate for the quality of the work we do.
I have been advised that the government is very much aware of the Senate committee report, and I’m further advised that the government is looking at and very seriously considering those recommendations and, as you would know, working towards the best ways to work collaboratively with the provinces to put into place measures to lower these interprovincial barriers to trade. It is sometimes easier to move things across countries in Europe than it is in Canada, and we’ve all experienced that in our lives when we attempted to do certain things from one province to another.
Equally important, I want to remind senators that removing interprovincial trade barriers was specifically identified in the mandate letter of Minister Freeland, and she takes this responsibility, as she does all others, very seriously.
