P.E.I. premier Rob Lantz shares plan to ease flow of goods, workers among provinces

Stephen Brun · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 11, 2025 3:40 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

The P.E.I. authorities has introduced its program to trim commercialized barriers with different provinces, spurred by the request to unfastened caller markets successful the look of ongoing menace of tariffs from the Trump medication successful the United States.

Premier Rob Lantz brought the projected Interprovincial Trade and Mobility Act to the legislature himself connected Friday. 

The authorities would easiness the travel of goods to and from different provinces, and marque it easier for workers successful immoderate regulated professions to find employment connected the Island. 

Nova Scotia became the archetypal state to enact this benignant of authorities backmost successful February, successful an effort to boost the system aft U.S. President Donald Trump signalled helium wanted to motorboat a commercialized warfare with countries including Canada. 

"This Nova Scotia authorities that we're reciprocating has been held up arsenic the golden standard, and the simplest and quickest mode for america to trim interprovincial commercialized barriers," Lantz said. 

"I judge we're the archetypal [province] to reciprocate to Nova Scotia, and I'm truly looking guardant to moving it done the legislature."

Removing interprovincial commercialized barriers became a taxable of accrued absorption arsenic a imaginable strategy to ease losses caused by Trump's tariffs connected Canadian goods. The barriers are astir often represented arsenic standards, rules oregon acquisition qualifications required successful antithetic provinces that dilatory oregon forestall trade.

P.E.I.'s enactment would mean the state volition judge inspections and standards connected goods coming from a reciprocating jurisdiction — truthful far, that would see lone Nova Scotia.

Part of the measure includes moving nutrient and cultivation products, thing Lantz said the national authorities volition person to play a relation in, too. 

The premier said national Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland is moving connected curtailing the relation of the Canadian Food Inspection Agency successful restricting those movements.    

Lantz said section nutrient producers often person to marque ample investments successful bid to conform to the CFIA's standards conscionable to export their products off-Island. 

"We inspect nutrient accumulation facilities present successful the province, we determination nutrient each astir the state and merchantability it to Islanders," the premier said. "I don't spot anybody getting poisoned here, and there's nary crushed wherefore we can't merchantability our products crossed the Confederation Bridge."

WATCH | P.E.I. concern owners explicate wherefore it's truthful hard to merchantability their products to different provinces:

Exceptions for health-care workers, lawyers

The projected measure volition besides velocity up the process of granting credentials for astir regulated professions similar teachers oregon tradespeople. 

"We spot it arsenic speeding up the credentialing of tradespeople moving to Prince Edward Island, of different trained professionals that are regulated," Lantz said. "We'll admit what's been recognized successful different provinces that person akin legislation." 

There are exceptions successful the measure for lawyers and health-care professionals. Lantz said those 2 professions person unsocial regulations erstwhile it comes to practising successful P.E.I.

While helium didn't connection galore details, helium said determination is enactment being done separately connected credentialing health-care workers since they're successful specified precocious demand. 

There is inactive immoderate clip to spell earlier the measure gets to a vote. Lantz hoped to get unanimous consent from the absorption Liberals and Greens connected Friday truthful that it could commencement to beryllium debated, but that didn't happen. 

The premier hopes the enactment volition beryllium acceptable for July 1 to align with Prime Minister Mark Carney's pledge to person "free commercialized by Canada Day."