New internal trade deal expected to add billions to Canadian economy
TORONTO — A new internal-trade deal that will remove domestic trade barriers is expected to add billions of dollars to the economy, but an agreement on booze will have to wait.
The Canada Free Trade Agreement, unveiled Friday in Toronto, takes a “negative list” approach, meaning it automatically covers all sectors except when exemptions are listed. Exempt sectors include taxation, water and tobacco control. The deal replaces the Agreement on Internal Trade from 1995, which essentially took the opposite approach.
Officials have struggled to pin a number on the potential economic benefits of the agreement, but Ontario Economic Development Minister Brad Duguid, who was also chair of the negotiations, said the deal is expected to add $25 billion a year to the economy.
“Why did we need a new agreement, some may ask,” Duguid said. “First off, the economy and the world has changed. Canada needs to be at its best to compete in a fiercely competitive economy … (It) reduces the costs of doing business in Canada and makes us economically strong and creates jobs across this country from coast to coast to coast.”