Navigating trade tricky in border city of Lloydminster, which straddles two provinces
Business owner says some trade barriers are 'archaic'
Energy sizzles through the air at Diamond 7 Meats, a small meat processor in Saskatchewan.
One employee ties roasts with string while another churns out pork sausages and a third wraps them in red packing paper.
But there is one thing that can make doing business tricky: an invisible line called the provincial border.
The business sits right on the edge of Lloydminster, Sask., about 150 metres from the border with Alberta. It's so close that president Robert Lundquist can see it from the front door of the business.
But the company cannot sell their products in nearby Alberta.
Lundquist said his facility is not federally certified, something that he said would cost him millions of dollars to make happen, meaning meat cannot travel across provincial borders.
It's a tough pill to swallow when he can see the highway that marks the invisible line between the two provinces.
"It's very frustrating. It's very frustrating," Lundquist said.
"We're at a time in the world where we need to be able to trade within Canada. Some of these barriers are really …archaic."
The issue has become particularly pressing as U.S. tariff threats continue to cast a dark cloud.
"Everybody's so caught up in the worry about tariffs and product moving back and forth to the United States… Maybe this a time when we should realize that we got to focus a little bit on what's happening within our Canadian borders," Lundquist said.
On Friday, Prime Minister Mary Carney promised free trade between provinces and territories by Canada Day.
Berry farmer Alice Pattison understands the complications of moving food products across provincial borders.
The owner and operator of Berry View Farms, near Marshall, Sask., roughly 20 kilometres southeast of Lloydminster, can sell her jams and jellies in Alberta because her kitchen is approved by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
But Pattison said that, while she had the resources to do that, not every business can.
"It's a lot of red tape. You have to…figure out what exactly you need to do and some people may find it a bit time-consuming and a bit confusing as well," she said.
Border city
Lloydminster is Canada's only border city, sitting partially in Alberta and partially in Saskatchewan.
For years, that has meant businesses crossing the border often had to deal with rules from both provinces, such as insurance policies and professional regulations.
It sometimes led to tricky situations, according to Blaine Stephan, the past president of the Lloydminster Chamber of Commerce.
He referenced a grocery store that had its main location on the Alberta side of the city but had gas stations on the Saskatchewan side of the city.
"They would make sandwiches at their main store and they were not allowed to sell them in the gas station four blocks over," he said.
Stephan said the bureaucracy kept businesses from prospering.
"To know that you have a market as close as your neighbour and they're not able to legally purchase your product, it was super frustrating … it just felt crazy," he said.
In November, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency updated regulations to allow for the free flow of food within Lloydminster city limits, and Stephan said it has made a difference.
"[People] can just do their job and they're able to make their food, do their job and then sell their products," he said.
And he said the changes in Lloydminster are proof that it is possible for trade barriers to be removed.
"It does show that when the right people get to the table, we can create a common sense approach," Stephan said.
"We have such great products and we want to get them to people that need them."
As for Lundquist, he sees his calls for trade barriers to come down as his civic duty.
"I want to make my business better. I want to grow it and make it better. It makes my community better, makes my country better," he said.
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