In a letter and position paper, the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) has raised the alarm about the dismantling of interprovincial trade barriers in response to threatened tariffs from the United States.
Many of the regulations labeled as interprovincial trade barriers are, in fact, essential protections for workers and public services. These include standards for workplace safety, environmental protection, and the delivery of vital services such as child care and health care. CUPE warns that “mutual recognition,” often promoted by those who want to remove barriers, can pressure provinces with higher standards to lower them in order to allow their businesses to compete with those from jurisdictions with weaker regulations.
CUPE argues that dismantling essential worker protections under the guise of removing trade barriers is a misguided approach that will harm workers and communities across Canada.
CUPE also criticizes the estimates of economic benefits that would come from removing these regulations. Such estimates are frequently overstated and fail to account for the significant costs of losing crucial protections.
Some of the protections that have wrongly been labeled as “barriers” relate to the ability of governments to build, own, and regulate critical infrastructure in the public interest. Removing these protections would make it harder for governments to build the pan-Canadian, publicly-owned infrastructure needed to defend the Canadian economy against external disruption.
In fact, Canadian businesses have identified transportation costs and availability as the most significant impediments to interprovincial trade, not regulatory differences. This points to investment in public infrastructure, such as a reliable east-west transportation corridor, as the solution to the current crisis, rather than regulatory downgrades.
CUPE urges the federal government to resist dismantling essential regulations and instead focus on implementing progressive, public solutions to protect jobs, services, and communities.
CUPE’s key policy recommendations include:
- Strengthening public protections and infrastructure: This involves maintaining protections within trade agreements, investing in public transportation, and developing public manufacturing in key sectors.
- Supporting workers: This involves providing income support through programs like Employment Insurance, expanding training support, and guaranteeing jobs for young workers.
- Stabilizing the economy: This involves public ownership of key infrastructure and considering emergency nationalization to protect nationally important operations.
CUPE believes these measures will protect the Canadian economy and the well-being of all workers.
