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Winnipeg Free Press
5 days ago
- Business
- Winnipeg Free Press
Bill 47 ‘way to start the conversation'
Manitoba business leaders are touting a new interprovincial trade bill as a 'positive first step' — albeit one lacking details and key changes they've called for. Bill 47 was passed in the Manitoba legislature on Monday. The bill allows for mutual recognition of goods and services with other jurisdictions who have similar laws. It comes less than a month ahead of Prime Minister Mark Carney's deadline; he wants free internal trade by Canada Day. Tim Smith/The Brandon Sun A line of semi trailers sit parked along the Trans-Canada Highway during a winter road closure. Trucking sector disparities between the provinces are top of mind for many in the move to break down interprovincial trade barriers. 'The last thing we need is trade barriers within our own country when we have them with the rest of the world,' said Bram Strain, president of the Business Council of Manitoba. He deemed the greenlighting of Bill 47 a 'very positive first step.' The bill should affect regulations unnoticed by the average shopper. For example, Manitoba will acknowledge other provinces' food label standards when importing products and vice versa. Such interactions will follow mutual recognition deals between jurisdictions. Trucking sector disparities are top of mind for some. There are information gaps — such as different systems to check a company's history — and inconsistent vehicle and driver regulations. Such variation can be costly to trucking companies; and that cost may be downloaded onto farmers, said Colin Hornby, general manager of the Keystone Agricultural Producers. Retailers, hospitality groups and others shipping goods will benefit from more efficient trucking, Winnipeg Chamber of Commerce president Loren Remillard added. The Manitoba Trucking Association plans to meet with provincial officials about Bill 47's impact. 'We need to work together, because having different standards is challenging,' said Aaron Dolyniuk, MTA executive director. 'What we need to do is harmonize up to a consistently high standard, so that the integrity of safety in the trucking industry is not compromised.' Manitoba is working with Ottawa on smoothing out trucking regulations nationwide, said provincial Economic Development, Investment and Trade Minister Jamie Moses. He spoke to federal Transport Minister Chrystia Freeland on the topic last week. (Manitoba recently changed its semi-truck logo requirements to align with other provinces; it was previously an outlier, requiring a minimum width requirement for letter size.) In general, breaking down interprovincial barriers should reduce prices for Canadians, said Remillard. 'It costs (businesses) less, and they pass that cost on to the consumer.' If Manitoba signed mutual agreements with every province, Canada's GDP could grow $26.8 billion, the Montreal Economic Institute projected. Nova Scotia has circled Manitoba as a mutually recognized province, Moses said. Ontario, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick have also introduced or passed similar legislation. Manitoba signed a memorandum of understanding with Ontario last month; the deal includes better direct-to-consumer alcohol sales and labour mobility. Hornby, who's among Premier Wab Kinew's private-sector advisers, considers Bill 47 'a way to start the conversation with all the provinces.' He and others, including the Opposition Progressive Conservatives, stressed a need for more mutual recognition of professional certifications. Health-care staff, veterinarians and lawyers are among the workers business leaders cited. Bill 47 doesn't apply to occupations covered by the Labour Mobility Act and Fair Registration Practices in Regulated Professions Act to avoid duplication, Moses said. He's working with federal, provincial and territorial governments on a service standard for credential recognition throughout Canada, he added. Another Bill 47 carve out: it doesn't apply to goods and services from Crown corporations. Alcohol retailers won't have easier access to other provinces' liquor store shelves, noted Kevin Selch, founder of Little Brown Jug Brewing Co. in Winnipeg. 'The LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) is a bit of a beast to access,' he said. The LCBO is one of the biggest liquor buyers globally. If Manitoba lowers its markup rates, local craft brewers would be more competitive and have a 'better home court advantage,' offering lower prices and possibly saving money for marketing elsewhere, Selch added. 'We don't want to privatize Manitoba Hydro or MPI and our Crown corporations,' Moses said when asked about the exemption. The province is focused on direct-to-consumer alcohol sales, Moses added. Brewers have been critical, saying Ontario residents and others won't ship a flat of beer to their homes. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Manitoba Federation of Labour president Kevin Rebeck said he's watching new deals between provinces 'cautiously.' He fears a 'race to the bottom' on health and safety standards in pursuit of economic activity. 'Worker safety needs to be paramount,' Rebeck said. 'That shouldn't be sacrificed or recognized as a barrier.' Other provinces care about their citizens' safety; mutual recognition shouldn't be viewed as an unsafe practice, Remillard said. Gabrielle PichéReporter Gabrielle Piché reports on business for the Free Press. She interned at the Free Press and worked for its sister outlet, Canstar Community News, before entering the business beat in 2021. Read more about Gabrielle. Every piece of reporting Gabrielle produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press's tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press's history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates. Our newsroom depends on a growing audience of readers to power our journalism. If you are not a paid reader, please consider becoming a subscriber. Our newsroom depends on its audience of readers to power our journalism. Thank you for your support.
Global News
26-05-2025
- Business
- Global News
Manitoba farmers past the halfway mark for seeding season
The seeding season is progressing across much of Manitoba. Most producers are ahead of last year with provincial seeding progress at 57 per cent complete, according to Keystone Agricultural Producers(KAP). 'Many regions are seeing good moisture this growing season, and the forecast shows warmer weather,' KAP president Jill Verwey said in an emailed statement. 'Overall, we are optimistic for a good year and for most Manitoba producers to wrap up seeding on time or ahead of schedule. In light of recent trade tensions, this is some welcome good news for Manitoba producers.' For Korey Peters, seeding season is nearly complete on his farm in southeastern Manitoba. 'Seeding has progressed very nice this year because of the dry weather,' Peters told Global News, while adding his area could use more rainfall soon. Story continues below advertisement 'But I have to be careful what I wish for, as every farmer is.' View image in full screen Korey Peters climbs into his tractor in one of his fields near Randolph, Man. Iris Dyck / Global News Peters says seeding, along with farming as a whole, can be a balancing act. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Like every year, (we're) playing the game of when to sell crops, when to hold onto crops,' he said. 'Almost all of our crop from 2024 is out of the bin, we have a little bit of canola left to haul, but the rest is all gone.' Peters, who farms canola, wheat, soybeans, corn and sunflowers, says this year brings slightly more uncertainty due to China's tariffs on Canadian canola. 'We did actually gain a few acres this year and quite often we would put canola into new acres, it would just be a good first crop, and we made the decision not to,' Peters said, adding the overall impact of the tariffs on producers is still mostly undetermined. Story continues below advertisement 'Your guess is as good as mine, so I think acres in general, we'll probably be down a little bit on canola. We're about the exact same acres as last year, we definitely didn't increase them when it comes to canola.'
CBC
05-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
Winnipeg importer says food prices will rise as U.S. tariffs cause trouble for farmers, consumers
A Winnipeg food importer and distributor says the cost of food brought in from every part of the world will go up for Canadian consumers and businesses in the wake of U.S. Donald Trump's 25 per cent tariffs. "When the Canadian dollar suffers, as it's going to, price of everything that we import in Canada, will become that much more expensive, from all over the world. And Canadians will pay for that in spades," said Tom De Nardi, president of Mondo Foods. De Nardi says U.S. products account for around 10 per cent of what his business imports overall, and most produce he brings in comes from California. "I'm devastated like all Canadians. Yeah, hurt, angry, all of those emotions," said De Nardi. Keystone Agricultural Producers, a major agricultural group, says the U.S. tariffs will harm farmers and consumers on both sides of the border. It said Manitoba's agri-food exports were $9.28 billion last year, with 46 per cent going to the U.S. "These tariffs will not only add costs and threaten Manitoba farmers' ability to operate but will impact the livelihoods and purchasing power of countless individuals and businesses on both sides of the border, resulting in increased food costs for U.S. consumers," the group's general manager, Colin Hornby, said in a news release. "It's hard to believe that, you know, the Trump administration has only been in place for 43 or 44 days, it feels like an eternity," Hornby told CBC Radio's Radio Noon on Thursday. In response to Trump's tariffs, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's vowed retaliatory tariffs would be levied on $30 billion in U.S. products until U.S. trade action is withdrawn. Some U.S. products affected include dairy products, tomatoes, citrus fruit and melons, according to a federal website. De Nardi says Canada's retaliatory tariffs won't help Canadian shoppers at the checkout. "All you're doing here is putting more costs on the Canadian consumer at a time where they already are busting at the seams for food costs," said De Nardi. "That will have a dramatic effect on end user pricing for the consumer that's already stressed currently in their whole financial picture." Fletcher Baragar, a professor of economics at the University of Manitoba, says slapping the U.S. with tariffs on selected goods will impact the American economy in the short run but only in "bits and pieces." "It's going to take a bit of time for the full effect of that to sort of percolate through in terms of living standards, perhaps business profitability, perhaps employment, and to get the political message sort of through to decision-makers in Washington," said Baragar. "And so I think it's important that we make that reaction and that we stick with it because I think eventually the economic effects will have an influence." When it comes to distribution lines and other markets, Bargar says it will be a challenge for businesses to find alternatives to historical trade lines that existed even before free trade agreements signed in 1992 between the U.S., Canada and Mexico. "That whole model is very much up in the air… suddenly that model just doesn't seem to be applicable, at least at the moment," said Barager. 'U.S. customers simply going to go away?' The uncertainty is being felt by members of the Manitoba Chambers of Commerce. "Some of the companies that I've talked to do 70 to 80 per cent of their business south of the border," chamber president Chuck Davidson said. "How big of an impact is that going to be? Are those U.S. customers simply going to go away?" One Winnipeg-based craft brewery said it would like to see the province act to remove interprovincial trade barriers. The Nova Scotia government recently introduced a bill aimed at reducing interprovincial trade barriers. Provisions in the bill would only be extended to provinces or territories that adopt similar legislation. Kevin Selch, founder of Little Brown Jug Brewing Co., said he is "perplexed" on why more premiers haven't moved forward with similar legislation.
