Immigration.ca - Canada Immigration News - May 2007
B.C. and Alberta are hoping to become an economic powerhouse in Canada. The two provinces working together to forge one of the country’s largest economic regions, signed four job creation partnership agreements last week covering issues that range from sharing emergency-response resources to pooling resources when buying drugs and medical supplies. This follows on the heels of an agreement signed last year that came into force on April 1, 2007. The interprovincial trade agreement aims to slash trade barriers and red tape and increase labour mobility in a bid to create the country’s second-largest economic trade zone, behind Ontario.
For example the deal will allow companies registered in one province to be automatically recognized in the other. As well, workers and professionals will no longer have to be certified or licensed in both provinces to between them.
A Conference Board of Canada report suggests that the agreement will deliver to B.C. alone 80,000 new jobs and $4.8 Billion in gross domestic product.
Experts believe that the deal will set an example for the rest of the country. Interprovincial non-tariff trade barriers cost the Canadian economy tens of billions in lost productivity and opportunities and make companies less competitive.
The biggest opposition to adopting similar trade deals is the objections of special-interest groups. The Alberta-B.C. trade deal has been roundly denounced by unions in both provinces.
Source:
Globe and Mail: May 19, 2007
