N.B., N.L. sign agreement to improve trade and labour mobility
Memorandum of understanding inked in response to U.S. tariffs
New Brunswick has signed a memorandum of understanding with Newfoundland and Labrador to reduce interprovincial trade barriers and improve labour mobility.
Premier Susan Holt announced the agreement with the province's fourth-largest trading partner during a media briefing from St. John's on Thursday.
"We're working to ensure that all products, services and credentials that are approved by Newfoundland and Labrador are automatically recognized by New Brunswick and vice versa," she said.
"Newfoundlanders and New Brunswickers have long been good friends, and now we will be great trading partners."
The agreement, aimed at combating tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump, commits both parties to improve the flow of workers, goods and services between provinces, and "increase investments that will contribute to sustained economic activity."
"When we break down some of these barriers — these requirements to get inspected in the province that you're selling in, to have unique labelling, to have credentials for a truck driver that needs to be licensed here and there — those add burdens [such as time and cost] to businesses and particularly small businesses," Holt told reporters.
Some exceptions
There will be some exceptions, Holt acknowledged. She does not expect to see more Newfoundland seafood processed in New Brunswick, for example.
"What we're doing is recognizing that we don't want to let perfect be the enemy of progress," she said.
"Newfoundland has their interests in minimum [seafood] processing requirements, but New Brunswick is not going to let that stop us from knocking down the other barriers that we can so that we can continue to do more business and do business more easily with Newfoundland."
"They have some interests that are near and dear to their hearts the same way that New Brunswick does," she said. As an example, she cited forestry and how wood on Crown lands gets processed and treated.
"But that doesn't stop us from finding where we can agree and getting things done to move forward."
She said she is happy both she and Andrew Furey, the outgoing Newfoundland and Labrador premier are "flexible, impatient people who want to make progress, and I think we've found a way to do that."
Seeks to process N.L. oil
One change Holt "absolutely" hopes to see under the agreement is for New Brunswick to be able to process crude oil from Newfoundland, as Saint John once did "some time ago."
It's "ridiculous" that the province can't because of a regulatory issue, she said. "I think it has something to do with like flags and vests on the boat" under the Coastal Trading Act.
New Brunswick and Newfoundland have both submitted a request to federal Minister of Transport and Internal Trade Chrystia Freeland to have that "anomaly" removed, Holt said.
The Irving Oil refinery in Saint John is the largest oil refinery in Canada, capable of processing more than 300,000 barrels of crude oil per day.
Optimistic about other MOUs
New Brunswick signed a similar trade agreement with Ontario last week.
Holt said she believes the latest deal will serve as a good model for the ongoing free trade and labour mobility discussions with P.E.I. and Nova Scotia.
"The conversation with Quebec is a little different and arguably more important as our largest trading partner … but the playing field is not level."
Still, Holt's "very optimistic" about reaching agreements with other provinces "to remove as many barriers as possible as quickly as possible."
For now, New Brunswick is focused on its biggest and closest trading partners.
Called for 'one Atlantic market'
The Newfoundland agreement comes after Holt called on the other three East Coast premiers last month to join her in making Atlantic Canada a "free trade area" with a single market operating with one set of rules governing trade and labour mobility.
In a letter, she proposed establishing mutual recognition of regulations that affect the movement of goods, services and people within the region, as well as addressing the remaining barriers and irritants that limit trade within the Atlantic region.
The goal would be to allow businesses, investors and workers to move freely within the four provinces.