A national advocacy group wants food to be included in interprovincial trade discussions as elected officials meet this week.
The Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) said it wants mutual recognition between provinces and territories on trade, particularly in close knit areas such as Ottawa, Ont. and Gatineau, Que.
“The biggest frustrations that we hear about food is that anything that is provincially inspected isn’t allowed to move across borders,” Ryan Mallough, vice president of legislative affairs for the CFIB told BNN Bloomberg in a Monday interview. “For example, if you are a butcher in Ottawa, you cannot move things across the river into Gatineau. If it’s provincially inspected, it has to be federally inspected, despite provincial inspection working for consumption in Ontario.”
The Committee of Internal Trade, responsible for implementing the Canada Free Trade Act, is scheduled to meet Nov. 19 in Yellowknife, N.W.T. preceding a reception on Nov. 18.
Minister of Internal Trade Dominic LeBlanc made a list of regulations to be finalized Tuesday, particularly for goods produced, used or distributed adhering to requirements of a provinces and territories and recognized as meeting comparable federal requirements. The Act however does not include food items.
The government states, “to protect the health, safety and security of Canadians, the regulations also list exceptions to the Act, including food regulated under the Safe Food for Canadians Act.”
“If it is good enough to eat and consume in one province that should be good enough for the other province,” said Mallough.
The federal government announced plans to build one Canadian economy instead of 13 by removing barriers to internal trade. The government states Bill C-5 “will allow businesses to expand and enhance consumer choice, ultimately bolstering our economic resilience and building a stronger and more self-reliant economy.” It comes as U.S. President Donald Trump places punishing tariffs on global economies.
The bill however does do much for food producers. The town of Lloydminster, situated between Alberta and Saskatchewan, participated in a two-year pilot program to remove barriers to interprovincial food trade in consultation with the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
“It was only this year where businesses on one side of that road could transfer their products to the other side of that road when provincially inspected as part of a federal pilot program that lasted a couple years,” said Mallough. “That’s how silly that this had gotten.”
The government said it is addressing barriers to trade agriculture and agri-food products through targeted efforts, including helping businesses obtain a federal food licence to trade within Canada and abroad.
(With files from BNN Bloomberg’s Hue Pham)
