Mayors push for interprovincial trade to cushion potential tariff impact

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Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham has joined a group of Canadian mayors calling for easier interprovincial trade to help fight potential tariffs south of the border and grow the local economy.

At a meeting of the Big City Mayors’ Caucus in Ottawa to discuss priorities amid an upcoming federal election and the impacts of a potential Canada-U.S. trade war, Gillingham said cities and provinces must look to each other.

“While the U.S. remains our largest trading partner, we must look at emerging markets as well strengthening trade partnerships within Canada, throughout different provinces … that will make our economy more resilient,” Gillingham, who is vice-chair of the caucus, said Thursday.

London Mayor Josh Morgan, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, Quebec City Mayor Bruno Marchand and Ottawa Mayor Mark Sutcliffe agreed interprovincial trade is necessary to insulate Canada against U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff threats.

The federal and provincial governments need to cut red tape to allow for it, Gillingham said.

Earlier this week, Minister of Transport and Internal Trade Anita Anand said trade barriers between Canadian provinces could be wiped away within a month if Trump makes good on his promise to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian goods, which was paused for 30 days earlier this week.

Sutcliffe said he’s heard from Ottawa businesses that it’s easier to do business with companies in the U.S. than to sell their products in other provinces.

“We need to make it easier for people to do business by removing barriers, by streamlining our processes,” he said.

Kevin Selch, founder of Little Brown Jug, said interprovincial trade barriers inhibit the company’s growth; the brewer wants to expand into Ontario but restrictions imposed by liquor boards and associated costs prevents such development.

“It’s not impossible to get your beer into there, but there’s higher costs and barriers,” Selch said. “The process is so difficult and cumbersome and potentially costly that it’s not worthwhile.”

Selch was planning to explore expanding his products to shelves in Minnesota and Wisconsin, but that idea is on hold while levies on Canadian products are still on the table.

Alcohol restrictions and province-to-province trucking mandates are some of the biggest interprovincial trade barriers in the Canadian economy, which Loren Remillard chalks up to a provincial protectionism of sorts.

The president of the Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce said a trade dispute shouldn’t be the only thing encouraging provinces to work together.

He estimated if trade barriers were eased it could add up to $2,000 per resident to Canada’s Gross Domestic Product.

“Our concern is should we somehow find ourselves having secured a revised Canada-US-Mexico agreement and we’ve dodged the threat of tariffs, then we revert back to the comfort position that we don’t need to do anything else on the interprovincial trade barriers,” Remillard said. “No, we need to get this done regardless of what transpires down in the United States.”

Sutcliffe said he plans to write a letter to the Ontario, Quebec and federal governments urging for action on the matter.

Selch said now that Canada’s economy is on the line, time is of the essence.

“In order to build momentum and credibility that the government can do things to address the tariff threat in the U.S., they need to start announcing barriers that they are removing almost on the daily. I think it would add to business confidence if provincial governments could demonstrate that they can solve this.”

— with files from Gabrielle Piché

nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca