SASKATCHEWAN’S government is thinking about joining the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA).
But will involvement in it be good for Saskatchewan people, or anyone?
Saskatchewan is under pressure to join. Under pressure from business organizations. Under some pressure from Alberta and British Columbia, who know their goal will likely falter without Saskatchewan.
TILMA was the topic of a sales pitch organized recently by Saskatchewan Agrivision and other business groups.
I say sales pitch because all the presenters had roughly the same perspective.
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It’s like organizing a political discussion, but allowing only one party to make presentations.
Canada already has a deal among the provinces called the Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT). It is designed to improve interprovincial commerce. That can be strengthened, and must be. TILMA seems an attempt by Alberta and British Columbia to do an end run around AIT.
A core element in TILMA is the harmonization of labour and business regulations so workers can move easily among provinces to where the most money is.
Harmonization is a worthwhile objective. Why put three licence plates on your truck if you need only one to haul goods from Saskatoon to Kamloops? There are lots of places where similar harmonization would help. AIT recognizes that.
As for trading goods among the provinces, there are few barriers.
But investment is more challenging.
If an agency (provincial government, municipal government – urban or rural, school board, health board, etc.) has a regulation that supposedly hurts a company’s investments, the company can challenge the rule before an arbitration panel. If the company wins, the agency has to change the rule, or pay a fine of up to $5 million.
Think of the long-term damage to rural roads if trucking companies could keep governments from imposing road bans each spring.
TILMA’s central problem is uncertainty. The deal was negotiated in secret; there has been little public education. That uncertainty worries many groups, from Saskatchewan and B.C. municipalities to Canada’s chartered accountants.
Here is an analogy, as an example. If you’re driving in town faster than the 50 km-h speed limit and get caught, you’ll likely pay a fine.
Under TILMA, there will be no speed limit, but driving too fast will be a crime. If a police officer pulls you over and gives you a ticket, you have to go to court. There, the judge will decide what driving too fast means. There will be no clear way of knowing ahead of time.
Thus, a speaker at the Agrivision’s session admitted that, by joining TILMA, Saskatchewan would be getting a pig in a poke.
That’s the danger of taking control away from the people and putting it in the hands of groups that are accountable to no one, something that angers even Stephen Harper.
If any province is to be strong, ultimately it needs strong citizen participation in economic decision-making and clear, meaningful rules. That would include a strong and effective AIT. TILMA takes us in the opposite direction.
Rob Brown is a former agricultural writer and broadcaster now doing studies in ethics. He can be reached at cedarrbb@netscape.net. The opinions expressed in this column are not necessarily those of The Western Producer.
