Mr. Speaker, I am pleased that the hon. member did acknowledge the importance of removing these barriers to interprovincial trade. I just hope he can put some pressure on his industry minister and others in his government to deal with this issue.
The member said rightly that this is not a bilateral issue. In fact, interprovincial trade is a federal responsibility under sections 91, 92 and 121 of our Constitution. It is clearly the responsibility of the federal government to never allow interprovincial trade barriers to build in the first place and to remove them if they should.
This obligation has been put aside by Liberal and Tory governments for over 125 years. We have all kinds of barriers to trade between provinces which are causing the problem that is developing in Ottawa and which are causing the problem between British Columbia and New Brunswick. These kinds of problems are threatening to tear our country apart.
If we are going to keep this country together we need economic harmony between the provinces. That can only come if the federal government stops neglecting its responsibility under the Canadian
Constitution. It must show leadership in this issue and remove barriers to interprovincial trade.