Trudeau says in-fighting between provinces hindering progress on trade; no date on Burnaby byelection

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Over a year since the Canadian Free Trade Agreement was adopted, a lot of goods like craft beer and wine still aren’t moving freely across the provinces, and little progress has been made to eliminate trade barriers.

Speaking to reporters in Vancouver, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said it’s “obvious” that provinces need to do a better job of working together internally. He then blamed the provinces for the lack of headway.

“You talk to the provinces, and they all say, ‘oh yes, we totally believe in free trade, it’s not us who’s a problem, it’s them who are doing this, and we just have to respond,'” he said. “There’s a lot of finger-pointing, including at the federal government.”

Trudeau admitted it has taken international free trade agreements to highlight what’s lacking in our own country.

RELATED: Alberta refuses to sign statement at contentious western premiers meeting

“When we signed CETA with Europe, people suddenly discovered that European countries had better procurement access to certain provinces than the neighbouring provinces did,” he said.

Trudeau and the provinces are due to talk about inter-provincial free trade before the end of the year.

Still no date on Burnaby byelection

After calling a byelection in an Ontario riding this week, the Prime Minister hasn’t given any updates on the timing in three ridings currently without representation in the House of Commons, including Burnaby South. Federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh is intending to run in the riding.

“The byelections, including in Burnaby South, were seats that were only vacated mere weeks ago,” Trudeau said Thursday. “We will be calling those byelections soon, and in full accordance with principle and elections law.”

He didn’t indicate whether or not a byelection would be called before the federal election in October 2019.

– With files from Marcella Bernardo

Top Stories

Top Stories

Most Watched Today