Politicians overstating benefits of scrapping internal trade barriers: Think tank

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OTTAWA — A new report by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is dismissing moves by the federal government and Canada’s premiers to break down internal trade barriers as little more than “political theatre.”

It lands just ahead of the country’s internal trade ministers meeting in Quebec City this week, where they are expected to talk about their next steps as they rush to remove rules hampering cross-provincial trade.

Prime Minister Mark Carney vowed throughout the spring election to forge “one Canadian economy” with the premiers by eliminating internal barriers to trade and labour mobility in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Internal Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland has pointed to studies that say internal trade barriers amount to a seven per cent tariff that Canada imposes on itself, and that removing them could boost the economy by up to $200 billion.

But the left-leaning think tank’s report released this morning reviews the steps taken by Ottawa and the provinces to remove red tape and argues they will do little to mitigate the tariff threat or significantly boost the economy.

The study authors say federal and provincial politicians have only been able to point to a handful of examples where getting rid of overlapping regulations could have an impact.