‘Everyone is really united’: Prime Minister joins premiers for second day of first ministers meetings

New Brunswick and Manitoba have signed a Memorandum of Understanding over free trade.

Prime Minister Mark Carney assured Canada’s premiers his government will only accept “the best deal for Canada” as trade negotiations continue with the White House.

The Prime Minister gave the update to the premiers in Ontario’s cottage country Tuesday during the second day of Council of Federations three-day summer session that concludes Wednesday.

“What we collectively can most control is building a stronger economy,” Carney told the premiers Tuesday. “Moving from reliance to resilience, and division to unity.”

That unity between provinces has been on full display through two days of meetings in Huntsville, Ont.

Monday evening New Brunswick and Manitoba signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for free trade and labour mobility between the two provinces. It’s the third deal of the type New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt has signed this year after inking MOU’s with both Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador this past April.

Tuesday morning Ontario, Alberta, and Saskatchewan also struck an MOU to build new pipelines, rail lines, and other energy and trade infrastructure to better transport goods across the country.

“Everyone is really united on the same page of just really seizing the opportunities that are before us that in the past we may have looked away from that right now we’re all looking squarely at,” Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told reporters following the morning session.

Houston says the conversations Tuesday were positive with leaders seeming to be on the same page when it comes to make Canada a stronger country, but with unity will come some competition.

With Ottawa showing a willingness to work with provinces on nation building projects to help make Canada rely less on trade with the U.S., each premier will be tasked with convincing the federal government why their project deserves support.

“Everybody is in some respects is waiting for the major projects office to open,” says Houston, who made mention of “Wind West” in his media availability Tuesday. “That will be open, we understand by Labor Day and there’ll be capacity in there to really do analysis on them.”

Houston is hoping to have some clarity on the matter by the early fall.

Having to chose between possible pipelines, windfarms, and other projects by the various provinces will be one of the Prime Ministers early difficult tasks.

UNBSJ Political Scientist J.P. Lewis says this is the job the Prime Minister signed up for earlier this year.

“It’s very difficult to please everyone,” he says. “Carney will have to confront that he is going to make decisions that will make some premiers and some provincial governments very happy and others not.”

Speaking specifically about Nova Scotia and New Brunswick’s premiers, Lewis says the two could have strong say at the table given their standing in their respective provinces.

But before any transformational projects are approved, there is an August 1 deadline that looms for a trade deal with the U.S. to avoid tariffs threatened to be as high as 35 per cent by President Donald Trump.

“It sounds like we’re making some progress, although honestly, our trading partner is unpredictable and inconsistent,” says Holt. “We were reassured, I think by what the Prime Minister and the Minister (Dominic) LeBlanc had to say about how they’re treating this and the critical nature of stability for our economy and for our province, and making sure that we get the best deal and not just the deal available.”

“I think the premiers have full confidence in the team that we have negotiating on our behalf.”

The Prime Minister said Tuesday that Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be in Washington, D.C., over the next few days to continue trade negotiations.