Ontario and Manitoba are the latest provinces to announce a plan to work together to dismantle trade barriers within Canada, pledging to boost the flow of goods and services and to reach an agreement on direct-to-consumer alcohol sales by the end of June.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) during a May 14 news conference in Queen’s Park.
The agreement says a direct-to-consumers alcohol sales deal between Manitoba and Ontario is expected by June 30. It also highlights improved interprovincial labour mobility, noting that the provinces will aim to guarantee that any good, service, or worker approved in one province is also approved in the others.
Ford’s government has previously signed internal trade agreements with both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
Ford said interprovincial trade barriers cost the national economy “up to $200 billion every year,” and emphasized that they hinder the country’s economic progress.
“We need to do everything in our power to unleash our economy and create new opportunities for workers and businesses,” Ford said. “We need to cut the red tape and make Ontario and Canada the most competitive place in the G7 to invest, create jobs, and do business.”
The premier said the agreement would make it easier for workers from other provinces to work in Ontario, with Kinew also voicing support for the move.
“We trust that somebody who gets a red seal in Ontario, somebody who gets a professional designation in Nova Scotia or New Brunswick, we trust that they’re going to be able to do a great job if they come to Manitoba,” Kinew said during the news conference.
“We can guarantee that you can trust us as well too, that when we send our trades people, we send our engineers, we send our best to go work on a project here in Ontario, they’re going to be able to get the job done right.”
The total value of interprovincial trade between Ontario and Manitoba stood at $19.5 billion in 2021, Ontario’s government said. The top exports from Manitoba to Ontario are canola oil products and conventional crude oil. Ontario’s top exports to Manitoba are household goods and food and beverages.
Ford said his government is pushing forward on getting internal trade deals with other provinces and would not wait for Ottawa to lead the way.
“We aren’t waiting. We’re going to continue signing deals and confident we‘ll have a deal with Saskatchewan when we’re out there, and hopefully [Alberta] Premier Smith will sign on,“ he said. ”We’ll get as many people to sign on as possible, because this is just going to benefit our country as a whole, and make ourselves stronger economically.”
Ontario’s trade with other provinces was worth more than $326 billion in 2023, according to government data.
