Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for Stoney Creek for his comment and question.
I certainly agree with him that initiatives are being made. There is an effort to try to dismantle interprovincial trade barriers. That initiative has been going nowhere. There are provinces, especially those led by NDP governments, that are resisting very vigorously.
Failing being able to resolve this issue by consultation, section 93 of the Canadian Constitution clearly states that there shall be no restrictions or barriers to trade across interprovincial borders. Clearly the federal government has the authority to make the change.
While a Reform government would devolve many powers to the provinces where they can be administered better by either the provinces or the municipalities, this is one area in which the federal government has to show strong leadership, and it is not currently doing so.
To show how ludicrous some of these interprovincial trade barriers are, a constituent of mine in the Peace River riding had a contract to do some gravel work using some of his trucks up in an area seven miles from the British Columbia border in Alberta.
When the day was done and they had finished their work, they wanted to drive those same trucks into Dawson Creek, which was the nearest community, to stay in the hotels there overnight and eat in the restaurants. But they were restricted from doing so because the axle spacing on their trucks does not meet B.C. requirements. It would have cost them thousands of dollars to meet that specification. Those are the kind of silly rules we have in Canada.
We have more barriers to trade within our provincial borders than all of the European Community members combined. It is ridiculous. Seventeen 17 countries in Europe have been able to come up with standards so that trucks can roll across the borders, do not have to present papers and do not have special restrictions based on country of origin. Canada has negotiated better trade agreements outside our country than it has been able to negotiate inside Canada.
I suggest that when the member says that we need consultation and to put pressure on, the government clearly has the authority to make the changes and bring Canada into the 21st century.