Dismantling barriers to trade between provinces continues to be a top priority for Alberta’s government.
Despite recent headway, barriers within Canada remain high, impeding economic growth and raising costs to businesses and consumers.
To make progress on this issue, the Government of Alberta commissioned the Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) to carry out an independent study on the potential of adopting mutual recognition policies to reduce interprovincial trade barriers.
The report lays out the benefits of mutual recognition, a system where a good or service that meets regulatory requirements in one jurisdiction is deemed to automatically satisfy the requirements of another.
The MLI study finds that implementing these policies would have positive economic effects, increasing Canada’s economy by between 4.4 and 7.9 per cent, which would add between $100 billion to $200 billion in economic output over the longer term.
