Announce start of bilateral negotiations on free trade
TORONTO — Premier Doug Ford today hosted Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe at Queen’s Park to discuss ways their respective governments can further cooperate to protect taxpayers and encourage job creation in both provinces.
“This is what being ‘open for business’ is all about. While the federal government dreams up new ways to tax you, we’re thinking about new ways to create jobs,” said Ford. “I am so proud to have a partner like Premier Moe work with us to make new jobs, new investment and new growth a reality in both provinces.”
During the course of their conversation, the premiers touched on their shared opposition to the federal government’s plan to impose a massive job-killing carbon tax on Ontario and Saskatchewan families and businesses.
“Make no mistake, if Justin Trudeau gets his way, we will all be paying higher gas prices and higher home heating costs, while thousands of people lose their jobs,” said Ford. “Our government is proud to have joined Saskatchewan’s court challenge of the carbon tax and we are deeply grateful that Saskatchewan intends to support our challenge as well. We will use every tool at our disposal to fight this tax.”
Ford and Moe also discussed their shared commitment to reducing interprovincial trade barriers. The two premiers announced a Memorandum of Understanding to begin discussions on lowering interprovincial barriers.
“Saskatchewan and Ontario stand united in our fight against the carbon tax,” said Moe. “We also stand united in acknowledging the importance of the trade relationship between our provinces, and I am pleased to join Premier Ford to discuss how we can continue lowering interprovincial trade barriers.”
According to a just-released report, Sizing Up Provincial Trade Barriers, from BMO Capital Markets, the impact from free interprovincial trade would cumulate over a decade to add as much as two per cent to national GDP, or nearly $50 billion in total. For Ontario alone, the net positive addition to output would build to a range of $15-$20 billion.
“I hear from business leaders that this is one of the primary obstacles to attracting new investment and new jobs to our country. We can’t afford not to act,” said Ford. “We’re going to lead where Ottawa has failed and begin bilateral discussions to knock down our own interprovincial trade barriers. I look forward to working with other provinces to bring these trade barriers down.”
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