SASKATOON - A memorandum of understanding has been signed to lift trade barriers between Ontario and Saskatchewan.
Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe and Ontario Premier Doug Ford signed the MOU on Sunday in Saskatoon. According to a news release the MOU focuses on collaboration between both jurisdictions to remove restrictive barriers that limit the flow of trade.
The MOU includes commitments to facilitate mutual recognition of goods, workers and investment while strengthening public safety and respecting the integrity and role of Crown corporations, according to the news release. It also aims to strengthen interprovincial labour mobility and direct-to-consumer alcohol sales between the two jurisdictions.
Moe said he and Ford have “long been an advocate for making trade across Canada as streamlined as possible. It shouldn't be easier to trade with other countries than it is to trade between the Canadian provinces of our nation.”
Moe said the MOU is “yet one more way that we are able to stand strong for our provinces, and collectively as provinces stand strong for our country, and all of the people that call Canada home.”
He said the cornerstone of the agreement was “mutual recognition or reciprocity. Mutual recognition of our goods, of our workers, and investment.”
“A good that is acceptable for sale in Saskatchewan should be just as acceptable for sale in Ontario, and a service that is offered in our province should also be offered equally in their province, and vice versa, a good that is acceptable for sale or a service in Ontario should also be available in Saskatchewan.”
He said a “new focus on inter-provincial labour mobility will help people move between work in our respective provinces, and I think indirectly help people move across Canada, which is the goal.” As part of the MOU, Mor said they would “begin to work on bilateral framework for direct-to-consumer alcohol trade system.”
“Saskatchewan and Ontario are leading in efforts to advance a framework for direct-to-consumer alcohol sales for willing jurisdictions across Canada.”
For Ford, this was the second such deal Ontario had signed that day. Earlier Ford signed a similar interprovincial trade deal with Premier Rob Lantz of Prince Edward Island. There were also reports he was about to sign a deal with Alberta as well, and these come on the heels of other deals with other provinces.
The deals to remove trade barriers comes amid a growing movement by provinces and the federal government towards removing barriers to interprovincial trade. This is response to the tariff threats from President Donald Trump that have put a damper on trade with the United States.
Premier Ford had harsh words about Trump’s actions, including his latest threats to raise aluminum and steel tariffs to 50 per cent.
“At a time when President Trump is taking direct aim at our economy, make no mistake about it, he wants to annihilate our economy whether it is manufacturing in Ontario or any other jurisdiction that he can get his hands on, bring it down to the US. We’re going to fight like we've never fought before, not just to protect Ontario but to protect the rest of our country.”
Ford added that expanded trade will not just expand Canada’s quality of living but “make life easier for businesses, give investors confidence in our economy and increase free movement of our best, in-demand workers.”
He reiterated the issue was not with the American people, but “one person that wakes up every morning and decides what the world is going to do for him. Well, I’m sorry, if you take on the world, it comes back at you, I can assure you of that.”
When asked for their reactions to the 50 per cent steel tariff Ford called it concerning.
“Every time he wakes up, the story changes. The deal changes,” Ford said.
“You know, when I went down to Washington, it was very clear from Secretary Lutnick. No surprises. Every morning we'd wake up and we'd have a surprise. But he just doesn't surprise us. He surprises… Americans. You know, all it's doing is hurting Americans. It's hurting American manufacturers. Cost of anything that's produced by steel has gone up 16 per cent down there. And it's going to continue to hurt the economy in the U.S…
“President Trump cannot see the forest beyond the trees. He thinks he's going to punish us. Well, guess what? He's punishing his own people.”
First Ministers meeting happens Monday
The MOU signing comes just before both Premiers Moe and Ford were set to attend a First Ministers Meeting alongside other Premiers and Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday.
The Carney government had pledged to reduce interprovincial trade barriers with a goal of achieving free internal trade among the provinces by July 1. Agreement on removing internal trade barriers was something that came out of Carney’s initial meeting with Premiers on March 21.
For his part Moe and Ford expressed confidence July 1 was a realistic target.
“I think so,” said Ford. “Because we already have Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, PEI. Hopefully we'll be signing it with Alberta. So there'll be two people left. There'll be B.C., Quebec, and the territories. And I'm confident we'll come up with a deal for everyone.”
“This was also a topic at our Western Premier's Conference as well, where we talked about it,” Moe said.
“Potentially expanding even the New West partnership across Canada, which is essentially very much a similar discussion as what Premier Ford has been opening up on a bilateral basis. And so there's ways to move this forward… All of these are steps forward to lower regulatory differences between provinces — all of them together, collectively, I think are a positive for our nation.“
When asked if national unity depended on Alberta Premier Danielle Smith getting the pipeline she wants, Moe again pointed the Western Premier's Conference and what came out there.
“I think we spoke about this, about the priority of not only all Western premiers, but the three Northern premiers in creating a port-to-port corridor throughout Western Canada, from the Northwestern port to Hudson Bay. That corridor would essentially open up not only the Asian market, but advance our access into the European market as well for many product… But yeah, it has to include oil and gas as well. If we truly are going to become the strongest economy in the G7 nations, if we truly are going to become a global energy superpower, it means we need to open up the opportunity for all of our industries to not only operate at the level they are today, but to operate and expand into the future.
“… I agree with Premier Ford that we need to work together to not only defend Canada's interests as a whole, but work together within the nation of Canada to understand where the points of expansion and opportunity are, so that we can achieve those two aspirations that the new Prime Minister has.”
When asked if Prime Minister Carney has to come out Monday and support another pipeline, Ford replied that he would “encourage him to say that.”
“We can't rely on the U.S. We have to make sure that we do ship out the U.S. with, obviously, with approval from (B.C.) Premier (David) Edy. We have to go north… But in saying that, one key thing, and I've been preaching this constantly -- get rid of Bill C-69. We can work as hard as we can with all the Premiers, and if you have this big barrier in front of us called Bill C-69, it just makes us step ten feet backwards. So we need to work together, we need to cooperate together, and we have to work collaboratively.”
For his part, Premier Moe said he had three expectations for the next 24 hours:
“I would say for the Prime Minister to support a port-to-port corridor, opening up the Asian and European markets that could then be connected to, I know, some discussion that's happening in Central and Eastern Canada. Two is to, yes, fast-track a number of projects in this province, nation-building projects if you will. But three, an admission and a commitment to changing the regulatory environment that we are currently attempting to legislate around to provide that certainty for investment and certainty for projects to come through that process and into production. That includes the oil and gas industry.
“So it's Bill C-69. It's clean electricity regulations. It's a layering of regulations that don't need massive change, but need some alterations in order to provide Canada with the opportunity to have the strongest economy in the G7 and to be a global energy superpower. That’s what I would hope comes out of the next 24 hours.”
