Canada’s own trade barriers and political battles are costing the country investment, jobs and economic opportunities

Canada has plenty to worry about these days.

Our trade relationship with the United States has deteriorated badly. Washington imposed 50 per cent tariffs on $27.6 billion worth of Canadian goods in August. Canada responded Sept. 8 with counter-tariffs of 15, 25 and 50 per cent on an equivalent value of U.S. imports.

The obvious question is: What do we do about Donald Trump?

But I think there is a more important question Canadians should be asking: What can we do about ourselves?

I recently had the opportunity to discuss Canada’s future with former Reform Party leader Preston Manning. We talked about Trump and tariffs, certainly. But our conversation kept coming back to a much bigger issue: too many of Canada’s problems are self-inflicted. We have made our economy weaker and our federation more divided than either needs to be.

That should concern every Canadian because the consequences affect our prosperity and the opportunities available to our children.

We are fighting to protect free trade with the United States while differing provincial rules, licensing requirements and other barriers can still make it harder for businesses and workers to operate across Canada. How does that make sense?

There has been progress. Ottawa’s One Canadian Economy Act provides a framework for removing federal barriers to interprovincial trade and improving labour mobility by recognizing comparable provincial and territorial requirements. Good. It is long overdue.

But there is much more to do, particularly at the provincial level. If our access to the U.S. market is becoming less certain, surely one of the first things we should do is make it easier for Canadians to do business with other Canadians.

One of Manning’s most important points was that this isn’t simply about giving provinces more power. It’s about clarifying who is responsible for what.

Ottawa should pull back from areas that the Constitution assigns to the provinces. In return, provinces should remove barriers to interprovincial trade, where Ottawa has a constitutional role.

The result could be less federal-provincial fighting, fewer barriers to investment, more opportunity to develop our enormous natural resources and, ultimately, a stronger Canadian economy.

And this isn’t just constitutional theory. An investor considering putting billions of dollars into a Canadian energy or resource project that may take 25 or 30 years to pay off sees conflicting federal and provincial policies, regulatory uncertainty and complex questions involving Indigenous rights and consultation.

At some point, that investor has to ask a very simple question: Why take the risk? If the investment goes somewhere else, Canadians pay through lost jobs, investment, tax revenues and economic opportunities.

There may even be an opportunity buried in our current difficulties with Washington. Trump is forcing us to confront weaknesses we should have dealt with years ago. Internal trade barriers, regulatory uncertainty and federal-provincial battles existed long before the latest tariffs arrived.

Maybe this is finally the moment to fix them.

But the consequences of these federal-provincial tensions aren’t only economic. They are also feeding a much larger political problem, particularly in Western Canada.

On Oct. 19, Albertans will vote on 10 referendum questions dealing with immigration, constitutional reform and Alberta’s future within Canada. The final, non-binding question asks Albertans to choose between remaining a province of Canada and having the Alberta government begin the legal process required before a future binding referendum on separation could be held.

But surely we should be asking why we have reached the point where this question is even on the ballot.

Part of the answer lies in governments fighting over jurisdiction, economic opportunities being frustrated and Canadians wondering whether the federation is working as well as it should.

You don’t have to support separation to recognize that these frustrations have legitimate roots. It is easy to dismiss Western alienation as another round of Alberta complaining about Ottawa. That would be a mistake.

Many Western Canadians believe they live in one of the most resource-rich regions on Earth yet are repeatedly frustrated in their efforts to develop those resources and create greater prosperity. When governments repeatedly fight over jurisdiction and development, eventually people begin questioning whether the federation is working for them.

And again, Trump didn’t create these tensions. Neither did the current trade dispute. They have been building in Canada for decades.

So what can we do about it?

We should get back to the basic constitutional bargain that created Canada in the first place. Ottawa should handle its responsibilities. Provinces should handle theirs. And where we need to work together, the objective should be creating opportunity rather than protecting political turf.

But governments are only part of the answer. Canadians also need to understand the choices before us.

Manning made another point that I found encouraging. He invoked Thomas Jefferson’s argument that the answer when citizens need better information is not to take decisions away from them, but to “inform their discretion.”

In other words, give people the facts, give them the competing arguments and explain the consequences. Then trust them to make up their own minds.

That is the idea behind the Alberta and the West assembly, co-chaired by Manning and former British Columbia premier Gordon Campbell. The online forum examines competing ideas about Alberta and Western Canada’s future, including separation, a stronger province within the federation and different approaches to remaining in Canada.

The point isn’t to tell Albertans how to vote. It is to help them understand the choices before them. We could use much more of that in Canadian politics because fixing these problems will require Canadians to understand the choices and trade-offs involved.

Despite all of this, I remain optimistic about Canada. Canada has enormous advantages. We have extraordinary natural resources, an educated population and democratic institutions that, whatever their shortcomings, remain capable of change.

Most importantly, many of the problems holding us back are problems we created ourselves.

That means we can fix them.

Political leaders and trade disputes come and go. But Canada will still have to decide what kind of country it wants to be.

We can continue fighting among ourselves while investment and opportunity move elsewhere. Or we can use this moment to make the federation work better: free up trade within Canada, give investors greater certainty, respect the constitutional responsibilities of Ottawa and the provinces, and give Canadians the information they need to make informed choices about their future.

A stronger Alberta does not have to mean a weaker Canada. Neither does a stronger Saskatchewan, Quebec, British Columbia or any other province.

In fact, strong provinces working together may be exactly what Canada needs. And that is something entirely within our power to achieve.

David Leis is the President and CEO of the Frontier Centre for Public Policy and host of the Leaders on the Frontier podcast. A seasoned commentator on Canadian public policy, he focuses on restoring accountability, economic common sense, and civic health to the country’s national, provincial and municipal institutions.