Feds dropped internal trade barriers, but provincial deals risk ‘solving a patchwork with another patchwork’

Archived version: https://archive.fo/nTiWG.

# Ontario is leading the pack, having signed 10 inter-provincial trade deals. One internal trade expert says the feds should have played a bigger role in harmonizing internal trade between the provinces.

>The federal government may have held up its end of the bargain in lowering federally-imposed trade barriers by Canada Day, but premiers are now scrambling to strike their own trade deals between provinces.

>“It’s solving one patchwork with another patchwork,” internal trade expert Ryan Manucha said. “It would have been nice if the federal government said ‘here’s what we will do, we’ll be highly involved in the process, devising model legislation.”

>Because the feds regularly broker trade deals with international partners, “they have capacity and bandwidth to lead,” he said, “and I think there is an appetite for them to be a stronger leader from the centre.”

>But, he added, “we can’t let great be the enemy of good here.”

>As a part of Bill C-5, the One Canadian Economy Act, as of July 1 the federal government dropped 53 carveouts in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA)[,](https://archive.fo/o/nTiWG/https://www.canada.ca/en/intergovernmental-affairs/news/2025/06/federal-government-strengthens-the-canadian-free-trade-agreement.html) which has been in place since 2017.

>[…]

>Ontario has made trade deals with seven provinces and three territories, signing deals with British Columbia, Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut during the recent Council of Federations meeting in Huntsville, Ont., with the country’s premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney (Nepean, Ont.). 

>The summit’s agenda included discussing ongoing trade negotiations with the United States, efforts to protect Canada’s steel industry, the work to get major projects built, and the wildfires burning across the country.

>Quebec is notably absent from a trade agreement with Ontario. The two provinces account for over half of the Canadian economy.

>Several other provinces also signed bilateral agreements during the Hunstville meeting. Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew did not sign onto a trilateral trade agreement between Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Ontario, citing the need for consensus among Indigenous groups on major infrastructure projects.

>The deals commit to reducing trade rules and regulatory standards for some employment actors between provinces. 

>As it stands, though, Ontarians can’t yet buy wine produced in Nova Scotia, for example.

>[…]

>[Jean Philippe Fournier, vice-president with Teneo’s Strategy] noted Quebec seems to be the exception, but that’s par for the course for the province that’s “a bit of an ugly duckling” of the Confederation. 

>Quebec Premier François Legault did not seem to participate in the same type of cottage country hospitality as Ford, which isn’t surprising, Fournier said, but he suggested the public’s sentiment could be softening on that front. 

>[…]

>Fournier said he’s not concerned about the “patchwork” approach to free trade deals struck between the provinces. Eventually, he said, so many provinces will have agreements that there will be de-facto recognition of credentials across the country, allowing the free flow of labour between provinces.