Feds dropped internal trade barriers, but provincial deals risk ‘solving a patchwork with another patchwork’

Ontario is leading the pack, having signed 10 inter-provincial trade deals. One internal trade expert says the feds should have played a bigger role in harmonizing internal trade between the provinces.

Relations between Ottawa and the premiers have seemingly never been better, as provinces race to sign trade deals with one another.The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade

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BY MARLO GLASS

July 26, 2025

The federal government may have held up its end of the bargain in lowering federally-imposed trade barriers by Canada Day, but premiers are now scrambling to strike their own trade deals between provinces.

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