Local edge stays with trade deal
Policy gives leg up to NWT businesses looking for government contracts, it remains under new Canadian Free Trade Agreement
Shane Magee
Northern News Services
Monday, April 10, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A policy that gives NWT-based businesses an advantage when seeking government contracts will remain in place once a free trade agreement between provinces and territories takes effect in July.
Paul McKenna, left, the territory's lead legal counsel for Canadian Free Trade Agreement talks,
Jaysen Knight, the territory's lead negotiator on the agreement and Industry, Tourism and Investment
spokesperson Briony Wright during a presentation about the deal at the legislative assembly April 7. - Shane Magee/NNSL photo |
The territory secured the ability to continue the Business Incentive Policy through negotiations held over the past two years and three months on the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.
The agreement text released April 7 commits provinces and territories to reduce the patchwork of rules and regulations that affect trade of goods and services.
"Under the Canadian Free Trade Agreement it will be easier for Northwest Territories' residents to do business across Canada," Wally Schumann, the territory's Industry, Tourism and Investment minister, stated in a news release.
"I am pleased with the considerations that the agreement provides for the unique economic conditions that exist in Canada's North, including a higher cost of doing business and manufacturing as well as our special relationship with aboriginal governments."
The agreement means that if a regulation in another jurisdiction makes it harder for an NWT business to export or carry out its affairs there, the business can raise the issue with the territorial government trade representatives who will then bring
it up with a body called the Regulatory Cooperation Table.
The table is responsible for reconciling regulation issues, such as inconsistent trucking rules or rules for how gasoline should be blended.
Jaysen Knight, the territory's lead negotiator on the agreement, told reporters he expects the agreement will result in a lower cost of living in the territory.
Knight said the territory doesn't have many protectionist rules in place since it has tried to foster business and trade.
"We need investment," he said.
The territory's Business Incentive Policy can make a business' bid for certain government contracts more competitive.
For example, the policy sets out that if a contract is between $25,000 and $1 million, the bid price can be adjusted down by 15 per cent for NWT content.
NWT Chamber of Commerce president Richard Morland said while barrier-free trade is a good thing, the territory's economy needs all the help it can get.
"The more that we can provide opportunities for people in the North to develop businesses and create commerce, the better," Morland said April 7.
"The fact remains that the northern economy is trying to recover from a downturn in the resource sector and if we can provide incentives for local people, local providers to invest, then that will be part of how we can recover.
"If we've got that opportunity, then we should take advantage of it."
The agreement covers all areas of economic activity except those specified in the deal, such as trade of alcohol.
A group has been formed to continue talks around alcohol over the next year.
Knight said the territory has emphasized the social impact of alcohol must be considered when examining trade rules.
"We don't want someone shipping four pallets of tequila into a remote, dry community saying they could do so because it was approved under a trade agreement," he said.
The agreement replaces Agreement on Internal Trade which has been in place since 1995.
