One of my goals in posting to AgWired.Com is to improve relations by helping us better understand each other.
Henry C. Dyck, Consultant and media Specialist in Saskatoon, SA says trade deals within Canada, between provinces is necessary. Often, we do better with the Americans and countries around the world than with people in our back yard. Much of the price crunch facing farmers today comes from the cheaper US dollar; that drop has squeezed the profit right out of farming. I’m still trying to figure out how the powers that be, the economists couldn’t at least in part have forecasted the problems facing Canadians should this ever happen. Happen it did, and with a vengeance.
Henry says there is mounting pressure on the provinces to reach free trade agreements and Saskatchewan and Manitoba are no exception. The issue has come to a head with the recent agreement between B.C. and Alberta, which essentially erases the border between the two provinces. The agreement comes into effect in the spring of 2007.
Under this new agreement, most barriers will come off, and everyone and everything will be able to move and transact freely between the two provinces. The agreement creates a new western economic power with the two provinces becoming the second-largest economy in Canada. It has the potential to reshape the balance of economic power in Canada by creating a western bloc that rivals Ontario. B.C. and Alberta are estimating the agreement will save almost five billion dollars and create almost 80,000 jobs.
The B.C. – Alberta deal has escaped public attention. However, many business groups have praised the initiative and provinces are looking at it with much interest. The Atlantic agreement is considering a similar agreement. Some people in Saskatchewan want in, but not the ruling NDP party, but the Saskatchewan Party’s leader, Brad Wall. He is pushing the provincial government to enter discussions with B.C. and Alberta and become part of the deal rather than sit on the sidelines.
“I believe that over the next 10 years we will witness in our country an unprecedented migration of economic and political influence to western Canada,” Wall said. “Saskatchewan can and must be a leading partner in the new west. Other provinces are waiting for that leadership.”
As I said at the beginning, until we adjust our expenses in line with the US dollar, and forget the notion the dollar will [may] drop and things will be back to normal, we have to look at other areas that can make us more money. Maybe, right in our back yard is a place to start.