Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Canada is at a critical moment. U.S. tariffs are battering our country and are threatening to push the world economy into a recession. Hard-working Canadians are losing their jobs, businesses are losing their customers and investors are holding back. That is why it is so essential for us to press ahead with a project that costs nothing and can be accomplished at the stroke of a pen: delivering free trade in Canada.
Ultimately, the decision to build one Canadian economy, not 13, is about trusting each other. It's about deciding that the delicious steak people eat in Calgary is surely good enough to serve in Charlottetown and that the dental hygienist whose patients in Moncton adore her can be counted on to do the same excellent work when she moves to Quebec City.
According to a 2019 study published by the IMF, the impact of these barriers to internal trade is the equivalent to Canadians imposing a 7% tariff on ourselves. A 2016 report by Trevor Tombe and Lukas Albrecht, in the Canadian Journal of Economics, found that removing all barriers to internal trade and labour mobility could lower prices by up to 15%. A 2016 study by the Senate committee on banking, trade and commerce found that lifting barriers to internal trade could boost productivity by up to 7%. Research by Trevor Tombe and Ryan Manucha, published by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute in 2024, estimates that free trade in Canada would add up to $200 billion to our economy.
Let's seize this opportunity to transform Canada by trusting one another and creating one single Canadian economy. We introduced this bill because we want to eliminate domestic trade barriers and build one Canadian economy.
Momentum is building across Canada. P.E.I, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, Saskatchewan and Manitoba have all passed legislation to remove barriers to internal trade.
B.C. has passed its historic Economic Stabilization Act. Quebec is advancing its own reforms. I do want to salute Jason Kenney, who was a leader in this area when he was premier of Alberta. Memorandums of understanding between Ontario and other provinces, as well as powerful regional agreements like the New West Partnership, signal new levels of co-operation.
I want to be clear: The federal legislation is about being part of a broader wave and a broader national effort to remove barriers to internal trade and labour mobility. This legislation by itself won't do the job, and there will be more work to do after, I hope, we pass this legislation on Friday, but this is the federal government's contribution to the excellent work provinces and territories are doing. It's important that we, as federal MPs, do our share. What a delicious irony it will be for us all to respond to tariffs imposed from abroad by finally tearing down the tariff and trade barriers we Canadians have imposed on each other. Let's get this done once and for all and deliver free trade in Canada.
Thank you very much.