As Canada enters a trade war provoked by the United States, the nation’s provincial chambers of commerce, ‘the Chambers of the Federation’, have come together to present An Agenda for Economic Growth and Stability, a set of recommendations to Canada’s premiers to drive economic growth, strengthen domestic trade, and elevate Canada’s global competitiveness.

Mirroring the premiers’ Council of the Federation, the Chambers of the Federation initiative outlines key priorities, including:

• Removing barriers to interprovincial trade and labour mobility: Provinces should introduce legislation that enables mutual recognition agreements for goods, services, and skilled workers, similar to Nova Scotia’s Free Trade and Mobility Canada Act and Ontario’s commitments.
• Making an immediate, unified and unambiguous commitment to a National Energy Corridor: Premiers should immediately sign a memorandum of understanding to facilitate the movement of oil, natural gas, electricity, hydrogen, and other resources across Canada, strengthening both internal markets and international trade opportunities.
• Bolstering domestic procurement and supply chains Provincial procurement policies should be aligned to prioritize Canadian content. This means increasing the weighting of local economic impact in procurement decisions, using trade agreement flexibilities to support domestic suppliers, and aligning procurement policies with key sectors such as manufacturing, agrifood, and steel. In parallel, governments should invest in strengthening domestic supply chains and our industrial capacity to meet economic needs.
• Strengthening Canada’s trade position with the U.S.: Chambers urge the federal government to accelerate the renewal of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA) to ensure stability for Canadian businesses.

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