Nearly seven years after the New Brunswick government went to the Supreme Court to prevent the free movement of alcohol across the country, the first Susan Holt said that the tariff war with the The United States forces the province To rethink his approach to trade.
The Holt government is expected to complicate the legislation that would allow New Brunswick companies to sell alcohol directly to consumers from other provinces and allow Brunswickers to transport spirits through provincial borders, she said.
“New Brunswickers wants to take advantage of British Columbia’s wines in the same way as people in British Columbia want to take advantage of New Brunswick craft breweries,” the Prime Minister said in a recent interview.
“So, I think we have to break the things that have prevented us from sharing the things we are great.”
The New Brunswick government was not always so eager to see alcohol moving freely through borders. In April 2018, the province won his file before the Supreme Court against a man sentenced to a fine of $ 300 for buying beer in Quebec and bringing him home to New Brunswick. The highest court in the country judged that the provinces could make laws to resolve specific conditions and priorities within their borders – even if these laws can accidentally restrict the movement of goods.
But now, faced with the punistent prices of American president Donald Trump, Holt said that New Brunswick could not afford to maintain its trade barriers. Alcohol, she said, is only one of the many products that she would like to see moving more freely across the country.
If Canada reduces obstacles to interprotrovincial trade, it said: “The estimate we have seen at the national level is around … a bump of four percent for economic activity.”
“So I hope that we will see something similar here in New Brunswick.”
The imminent prices do not only influence New Brunswick on trade legislation, this increases the budget, which should be deposited next week – and which is the first of its government since the victory of the October elections.
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The preparation of the budget was delicate because Trump’s pricing policy is not yet very clear: it imposed prices of 25% on almost all Canadian imports in March – with a levy less than 10% on Canadian energy – to delay the implementation of rights until April. Trump also said that on Wednesday, he would tariff 25% of Canadian steel and aluminum; But for a few hours on Tuesday, he increased the prices on these two products to 50%.
Last week, Canada imposed prices of 25% out of $ 30 billion in goods imported from the United States, and said it would slam additional $ 125 billion in goods “if the United States would continue to apply unjustified prices in Canada”.
All of uncertainty, said Holt, made “exceptionally difficult” to balance the budget. “Whoever looked at the situation in November, as soon as Trump opened his mouth on the prices, looked at investment and employment to dry. … The reality is that we are faced with a deficit,” she said.
“We are trying to balance what is in the best interest of long-term new brunswickers. What can we manage? Because we have to measure twice and cut once. »»
If Trump explains its threat to impose 25% of prices between interests on Canadian products, New Brunswick should have a 30% drop in income, she said.
The best exports in the province are petroleum products, including heating oil and fuel at home towards a large part of the East Coast. Other important exports include seafood, forests and agricultural products. About $ 12 billion in goods cross the New Brunswick border in Maine each year, she said.
And with a expected drop in income, the Prime Minister said that difficult choices had to be made. But Holt said that his main promise during last year’s electoral campaign to resuscitate the healthy health system will be maintained. These promises included the opening of at least 30 clinics in the province over three years.
“The budget gives a clear priority to transform primary care, by ensuring that we have the tools we need, the information systems we need to get each brunnswicker and each health professional their health information to provide them with better care,” she said.
“So we do not compromise this promise in the face of prices. But we have to do both. It’s an act of balance, right?
Although she is dealing with the mental callisthenia of an American president Mercurial, Holt works to ensure that the government finds other markets which share “similar values and similar economic structures” to diversify trade.
New Brunswick is boasting not only oil, wood and lobster, but also much appreciated mineral resources that are in great demand in the world, she said. “We have unique mineral deposits in New Brunswick that could generate well-remunerated jobs and opportunities.”
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