Ontario has tabled legislation to make trade between provinces easier, as a way to shore up the economy against the effects of American tariffs.
The bill would make Ontario the first government in Canada to unconditionally remove all current exceptions to interprovincial free trade.
Premier Doug Ford also signed memorandums of understanding today with the premiers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick that support removing barriers between those provinces.
The legislation is intended to see the goods, services and workers of reciprocating provinces and territories automatically recognized in Ontario.
For example, officials say that currently some trucks have to stop at provincial borders to change signage, so harmonizing those requirements would save those companies time and money.
As well, the bill is set to remove barriers that make it difficult for people in certain jobs to work in different provinces.
On alcohol, long a point of contention in interprovincial trade talks, the legislation would introduce an interprovincial direct-to-consumer sales model so that Ontario residents could buy directly from producers in other provinces, and Ontario producers could sell directly to consumers elsewhere in Canada.
