Cut trade barriers between provinces, says report

Atlantic Canada needs to find a way to reduce regulatory and trade barriers when it comes to the rules on trucks that carry goods around the region, says a report by the Atlantic Provinces Economic Council.

The report says a region with a market six times smaller than Ontario’s can’t afford barriers in trucking, liquor sales and other sectors. For example, one restaurant owner told the researchers it was easier to purchase wine and beer internationally than from other Canadian provinces.

The study says removing all trade barriers between Canadian provinces could create gains as high as 3.3% of gross domestic product, while the gains would be more than double that for the Atlantic provinces at 7.6% of GDP.

The study points to priority areas, such as the transport industry, where the region still doesn’t have a standardized system to monitor carriers’ safety performance.

“The trucking industry has been calling for a single carrier profile and safety rating system in Atlantic Canada since at least 2002,” says the report, in one of many examples of inconsistent regulations around the region.

Trucking firms also note they sometimes require multiple permits to carry oversize or overweight loads around the Atlantic region, as the provinces haven’t come up with a single regional permit system.

The market for alcohol in Atlantic Canada is large, with over $1 billion in sales, yet Newfoundland and Labrador only exports $7 million of its products to other Atlantic provinces, while Nova Scotia sells just $4 million of its products to New Brunswick.

So far, the Atlantic provinces have created a Joint Office of Regulatory Affairs and Service Effectiveness to improve the regulatory environment. The report says this has been a step forward, but that the region needs a comprehensive trade agreement with a dispute resolution system.

“To be of value, an Atlantic trade agreement would need to have sufficient scope and power to address the majority of regulatory barriers,” it concludes.

Staff, with files from The Canadian Press

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