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An economic charter of rights is the key to free trade and economic mobility within Canada, according to the Macdonald-Laurier Institute.
In a study the Ottawa-based think tank released Monday, co-author and internal trade expert Robert Knox called on the federal government to use its constitutional authority to end internal free trade barriers that limit the free flow of goods, services and labour within Canada. Knox said: “We believe that releasing this study on the eve of the G8 and G20 summits in Canada underscores that paradox that, as Canada advocates freer global trade to offset the impact of the recession … we do not always practice what we preach.” The study, Citizen of One, Citizen of the Whole, asserts that the Fathers of Confederation believed in one massive North American free market that would provide prosperity and a sense of nationhood. In addition to creating an economic charter of rights, the study also calls for an economic freedom commission that would have the power to investigate breaches of the economic charter. BIV spoke with the institute’s managing director Brian Lee Crowley Monday morning about the trade barriers facing Canadians. "There are so many barriers in Canada that the people who have tried to list them comprehensively have thrown their hands up in despair. There is no comprehensive list,” said Crowley. “These barriers exist in almost every area of economic activity. It’s in agriculture, industry. It’s in transport, dairy, the exercise of professions.” One example Crowley used are dairy creamer singles that he said have different size requirements in different provinces, which costs manufacturers time and money. “That’s just one example of the zillion things that are going on, none of which are necessary.” The economic charter would give more power to the federal government to streamline trade processes, but Crowley said it’s not about stripping the provinces of decision-making authority. “It’s not that provinces would be losing power. It is that the federal government has not been exercising a power which it already has, which is not only totally legitimate but necessary to building a nation.”
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