From craft breweries to construction: How industries will be impacted by interprovincial trade

Businesses across the Maritimes could feel the impact of the removal of interprovincial trade barriers.

Burnside Brewing Company in Dartmouth, N.S., has been seeing the benefits from the ‘Buy Canadian’ movement.

“People have been shifting towards supporting local businesses and small businesses for years. We’re seeing an acceleration of that the last couple of months. People are actively looking for alternatives,” said Burnside Brewing Company general manager Jeff Green.

Another effort to help businesses on this side of the border may not have as much of an impact.

“My anticipation is that with the breaking down of trade barriers that Nova Scotia craft brewers are not going to see a whole bunch of more market access in other provinces in the country. I just don’t think that’s likely,” said Green.

While he believes improving interprovincial trade is beneficial overall, he said provincial liquor boards generally control market access.

“Maybe there’s some really niche licensees that might be able to do some cool events and things where they’re bringing in some premier products from outside of the province, but we’ve got a ton of great craft brewers right here in our backyard,” said Green.

On Wednesday, Ontario joined Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in easing trade between the provinces in response to the ongoing trade war with the United States.

Breaking down interprovincial trade barriers will allow other products to move more freely between provinces. There could be some unexpected benefits, according to the Construction Association of Nova Scotia.

“The removal of some of these things, it can reduce the cost, which, if you are talking about projects funded by us as taxpayers, if we can reduce those costs and increase efficiency at the same time, it’s a productivity equation,” said president and CEO Duncan Williams.

While removing trade barriers is a positive step, Williams said the Construction Association of Nova Scotia is advocating for “mutual recognition.”

“If you have a licence in British Columbia, it should be recognized in Newfoundland or it should be recognized in Nova Scotia,” he said.

“There is far more standardization now around things like building code, licensing, the way things are done in terms of standard practices.”

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page