N.B. premier's internal trade moves don't touch industry protection

Jacques Poitras · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 28, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 41 minutes ago

Premier Susan Holt's bold speech astir "eliminating" and "tearing down" interprovincial commercialized barriers inactive has a agelong mode to spell earlier it catches up with economical reality.

Holt's latest shuttle diplomacy connected interior commercialized took her to Newfoundland and Labrador, wherever she signed different memorandum of knowing with different counterpart.

The premier has championed what she calls an "Atlantic escaped commercialized zone" successful this portion and a propulsion to portion distant restrictions connected interior commercialized nationwide arsenic accelerated arsenic she can.

"Who tin determination guardant with us? How acold tin we go? Let's spell each the way," she said earlier this period aft signing her archetypal MOU in Toronto with Ontario Premier Doug Ford.

Active verbs aside, Holt's existent attack has been cautious, focusing connected areas specified arsenic authorities contracting and idiosyncratic accreditation, alternatively than ending protectionist policies that shield large New Brunswick industries from competition. 

"It's 1 happening to state your intent," said Ryan Manucha, a probe chap astatine the C.D. Howe Institute who studies interior trade.

"This is wherever it's going to get beauteous wide however acold radical are really consenting to spell erstwhile they accidental 'free trade.'"

The 2 changes Holt cites astir often will let much interprovincial intoxicant income and volition fto trained workers certified successful different provinces commencement moving present much quickly.

Her rhetoric implies much sweeping changes.

"We're going to proceed to determination arsenic rapidly arsenic imaginable to instrumentality vantage of this accidental to region barriers for New Brunswick entrepreneurs and for each Canadians to person commercialized hap much rapidly and overmuch little expensively," she said April 16 successful Toronto.

WATCH | 'We privation to marque definite we're precise careful': Holt's commercialized caveat: 

MOUs are not binding agreements. They're much of a declaration of an intent to negotiate.

The 2 MOUs precocious signed by New Brunswick accidental provinces volition "build on" existing legislation, "strive to" unfastened up trade, "encourage" different provinces to articulation successful and "identity options" for harmonizing provincial regulations.

Ontario commits to spell further than New Brunswick.

Ontario pledges to destruct each of its exemptions nether the Canadian Free Trade Agreement — a 2017 nationalist accord connected unfastened commercialized that gives provinces the leeway to take to support immoderate protectionist policies. 

New Brunswick lone commits to "work towards" removing its exemptions — and lone arsenic they use to Ontario. 

Holt's authorities has already eliminated 9 of New Brunswick's 16 exemptions, but truthful acold she has not touched the large ones: the commercialized barriers that let her to support the province's large assets sectors from out-of-province competition.

Provincial policies necessitate forestry companies licensed to chopped wood connected Crown onshore to merchantability that wood — with fewer exceptions — to mills wrong the province, for example.

Kim Allen, the enforcement manager of the manufacture radical Forest NB, says those policies person created an integrated forestry assemblage that ensures determination is capable wood to support those mills running.

It besides ensures the state gets the maximum worth retired of harvested wood by ensuring we're not exporting earthy logs but finished lumber, she said.

"The volition is to support the highly integrated manufacture present successful the province," Allen said.

"It is the province's largest economical driver, truthful changing the travel of Crown wood could perchance little — could interaction the worth of the earthy merchandise that's flowing retired of the province. It would besides enactment manufacturers astatine hazard and endanger sustainable jobs."

Holt's authorities is being likewise cautious astir seafood processing.

The state doesn't present necessitate seafood harvested present to beryllium processed here, but the existing exemption allows a aboriginal authorities to bash so.

The Liberals accidental they'll destruct that anticipation — but lone for provinces that reciprocate.

That is not going to hap successful Newfoundland and Labrador, Premier Andrew Furey said past week arsenic Holt stood by his broadside aft they signed their MOU.

"The premier knows precise good — she's heard maine accidental it today, twice — that determination are no-fly zones," helium said.

Ending a minimum in-province seafood processing request "would beryllium a decease stroke to agrarian Newfoundland and Labrador. We're not funny successful that. We're not doing that."

Furey added: "Equally, I'm definite she would not admit america taking each her lumber into Corner Brook Pulp and Paper."

At a caller quality conference, Holt's connection connected commercialized barriers for assets industries was considerably much cautious than it is connected the wide conception of liberalized trade.

"We privation to marque definite we're precise cautious astir New Brunswick's resources and however they are presently protected, and what payment determination mightiness beryllium to summation from getting entree to partners and different places and what risks determination are to perchance seeing our wood spell elsewhere to beryllium processed," she said.

Furey was much blunt astatine his associated quality with Holt successful St. John's. 

"It's a precise casual cognition to say, 'Let's get escaped of each commercialized barrier,' but what's the adjacent sentence?" helium said.

Manucha, who advocated for unfastened commercialized wrong Canada, said it makes consciousness for provinces to support their home-grown industries, but it could dilatory the momentum for lowering barriers, oregon pb to inconsistency from state to province.

"Are we present stalling astatine a threshold question of what is oregon isn't going to beryllium lumped in?" Manucha said. "And are we going to person a medley of arrangements?

"Free commercialized is the classical communicative of NIMBYism. … As soon as we commencement to interaction your industry, we commencement to get immoderate concern." 

Holt said successful St. John's that it was inactive worthwhile to unfastened up arsenic overmuch arsenic imaginable astatine a clip erstwhile the U.S. tariff menace has fixed it a governmental impetus.

"It mightiness not beryllium everything," she acknowledged, "but it is something, and it is progress." 

It is not, however, existent interprovincial escaped trade.