4 ms·
They have the legal right, but it would be politically awkward, and I'm not sure Trudeau is looking to annoy his base in Quebec to serve the interests of Britis
by redthrowaway 10y ago
They have the legal right, but it would be politically awkward, and I'm not sure Trudeau is looking to annoy his base in Quebec to serve the interests of British Columbians, who have never been a part of the LPC's base and only recently elected more than a couple Liberal MPs.
Similarly, it's well within the Federal Govt's rights to mandate free trade within Canada, but they only had the political willpower to suggest provinces work together to reduce barriers.
- allengeorge 10y agoAny idea why that is? I've often wondered why they don't just mandate it - I don't see the massive political fallout from mandating free trade in goods and services within Canada...
- redthrowaway 10y agoBecause all of the protectionism in Canada is in support of local interests: dairy farmers, brewers, etc. Remove the trade barriers, and the crappy ones will die. That's a much bigger deal politically than the win from efficient firms doing better and prices going down. The federal government just has no real incentive, short of it actually being in the nation's best interest, to force internal free trade. They would have to expend significant political capital to do so.