The objectives of the new Canadian Free Trade Agreement, which came into effect on July 1, 2017 include:
to reduce and eliminate, to the extent possible, barriers to the free movement of persons, goods, services and investments within Canada; and
to establish an open, efficient and stable domestic market.
One of the initiatives of the new agreement is to establish a federal/provincial/territorial Regulatory Reconciliation and Cooperation Table (RCT) with a mandate to oversee the regulatory reconciliation and cooperation process.
The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador would like to hear from residents and businesses, located in the province, regarding regulatory barriers in other Canadian jurisdictions which hinder their opportunity to work or do business in those jurisdictions. A regulatory barrier can take many forms including, but not limited to:
differing testing or certification requirements; standards; trucking, shipping or transportation requirements;
differing occupational health and safety, labelling, or sizing/packaging requirements;
or other barriers like local content/residency requirements.
This information is being collected and may be used/disclosed to:
Identify barriers being experienced in interprovincial trade focusing on regulatory barriers, but also including issues with respect to labour mobility and government procurement.
Inform government trade and regulatory cooperation policy officials, so priority areas can be identified for regulatory reconciliation efforts and trade negotiations.
Understand regulatory issues for specific sectors, industry groups or business/individuals.
Identify potential opportunities for regulatory cooperation between the four Atlantic Provinces, who have a joint regulatory cooperation office under the Council of Atlantic Premiers.
Share with other government officials to potentially provide examples during negotiations.
Inform deliberations with the RCT and related regulatory reform working groups (we may use specific information from this questionnaire including attributing it to specific sectors, industry groups or businesses/individuals).
The collection of information is done under the authority of Section 61(c) of the Access to Information and Protection of Privacy Act, 2015. If you have any questions about the collection or use of this information, please contact Herb Simms, ATIPP Coordinator at [email protected] or 729-2839.
A summary of the findings will be released publicly at the conclusion of this process but will not include attribution of responses to individuals, businesses or organizations.
The questionnaire should only take 20 minutes to complete, depending on your answers. We thank you in advance for your participation. The questionnaire will be available until October 20, 2017. If you have any questions related to the questionnaire, require an alternate format, or wish to submit a separate written submission, please contact the Manager of Trade Policy, Richard Squires at [email protected] or (709)729-5036.
