🧱 Why Did Trade Restrictions Exist Between Provinces?
1. Constitutional Fragmentation (1867)
Canada’s Constitution Act gave provinces significant control over areas like property, civil rights, natural resources, and local commerce.
This meant provinces could create their own rules for business operations, certifications, regulations, etc., even if it interfered with other provinces’ products or services.
2. Protectionism
Provinces often wanted to protect their own industries, jobs, and revenue sources by making it harder for out-of-province businesses to compete locally.
3. Licensing, Regulations, and Standards
Different rules for trucking, alcohol sales, building codes, professional certifications (like electricians or nurses), and product standards led to non-tariff trade barriers.
4. Alcohol and Crown Corporations
Many restrictions stemmed from provincial control of alcohol through government monopolies (e.g., LCBO, SAQ) which refused to allow easy cross-border liquor sales to protect their revenues.
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🧑💼 Who Is Responsible? Which Parties?
❌ ALL parties are responsible at different times:
Liberal Governments (Federal & Provincial)
Often promoted “national unity” while avoiding battles over provincial autonomy.
The Chrétien and Trudeau (Sr.) governments did little to break interprovincial trade barriers.
Trudeau Jr. signed the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) in 2017, but it had limited enforcement and exemptions that left most restrictions in place.
Conservative Governments
Mulroney’s Conservatives pushed hard for free trade with the U.S. (FTA and NAFTA) but didn’t eliminate barriers between provinces.
Harper’s Conservatives were more vocal about internal trade but didn’t make major constitutional or legal changes to fix it.
Provincial Governments (all stripes)
NDP, Liberal, Conservative, and other provincial parties all protected their provincial turf.
Premiers often talked about free trade but resisted change when it affected their revenues, control, or key industries.
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📜 Notable Example of Attempted Reform:
Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT) – 1995
Aimed to reduce barriers, but was weak and non-binding.
Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA) – 2017
Replaced the AIT under Trudeau's Liberal government.
Covered more sectors but included over 130 pages of exceptions.
No real penalties for provinces who ignored it.
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💥 Who’s Fighting It Now?
Pierre Poilievre (CPC Leader) has repeatedly criticized interprovincial trade barriers and has said he would:
> “Use the federal power of trade and commerce to knock down these ridiculous walls between provinces.”
He and others argue that Canada has freer trade with the U.S. than between our own provinces, which is ridiculous in a supposedly unified country.
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🧠 Bottom Line:
It’s not just one party’s fault. Trade restrictions are the result of decades of political cowardice, provincial self-interest, and federal unwillingness to assert authority.
Every major federal and provincial party has contributed to keeping the barriers in place — either by defending their own turf or by failing to enforce stronger internal free trade rules.
If you're looking for a single party or person to blame — blame all of them for allowing Canada to have a dysfunctional internal economy while preaching free trade abroad.
Everyone has promised but never made it happen Mark has used it as a tactic to keep votes.
Regardless it's needed decades ago but all governments didn't do it
Why oh why were there ever trade restrictions between provinces at all?