Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe says the best way to break down trade barriers between provinces already exists and the simplest thing for other premiers to do is to sign on.
The New West Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA) was established in 2010 by Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C., with Manitoba joining in 2017.
With the agreement of the other western premiers, Moe has written letters to the rest of his counterparts inviting them to join the NWPTA, he said at a media event Thursday in Saskatoon.
“No, this doesn’t solve everything, but it’s the clearest and most straightforward path toward not only free and fair trade, but the ability for those that are working in careers to move across Canada as well,” Moe said.
The NWPTA reconciles rules affecting trade, investment and labour mobility. It has lower procurement thresholds and fewer exemptions than the Canadian Free Trade Agreement — and Moe suggested Thursday an expanded NWPTA could “essentially” replace the CFTA, which has been in place since 2017.
Sask. Premier Scott Moe calls on premiers to join Western trade agreement
Since U.S. President Donald Trump started his tariff war with Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney and the premiers have been talking about strengthening internal trade. Experts say that’s still a work in progress.
The federal government passed Bill C-5, an omnibus bill that reduces federal restrictions on interprovincial trade and speeds up permitting for large infrastructure projects, on June 26.
Some provinces have also been passing legislation and signing agreements to reduce trade barriers. For example, Ontario signed separate memorandums of understanding with Saskatchewan, Alberta and P.E.I. on June 1.
All the provinces except Newfoundland and Labrador, plus Yukon, also signed an agreement earlier this month to allow direct-to-consumer alcohol sales by May 2026.
The current geopolitical situation is uncertain, Moe said, but one of the strengths of the NWPTA is that it “was not created at a time of crisis.”
He said the invitation to other provinces has no expiry date.
“We would ask provinces to at least consider it sooner rather than later, and if they deem it as being beneficial for their province … that they sign on,” he said.
Moe held his media event at Crestline, a manufacturing company in Saskatoon that builds buses for public transit, health care, shuttle, tour and charter industries. It exports its buses across Canada and around the world.
Scott Sawatsky, vice-president of sales and marketing for Cresline, said expanding free trade and labour mobility is important.
“Saskatchewan’s a great province to be in, of course, but we need more people here, more talented, from many different sectors, trade skills to engineering to many different occupations,” he said.
What is stalling the removal of interprovincial trade barriers?
While it has some flaws, the NWPTA is “among the most ambitious regional trade agreements ever enacted in Canada,” University of Calgary economics professor Trevor Tombe wrote in an analysis published last month.
“Although the commitment is ambitious and the agreement’s text is quite encouraging, there are many ways in which it has fallen short of true mutual recognition, and significant barriers remain between these jurisdictions,” he wrote.
Tombe said recent research has shown the effect of the NWPTA to be that interprovincial trade costs declined by 2.3 per cent.
