SaskatchewanThe Saskatchewan government has introduced its first piece of legislation of the 2025 fall sitting, which it says will help promote interprovincial trade and reduce regulatory barriers. Bill would allow province to recognize regulatory requirements in other provincesAlexander Quon · CBC News · Posted: Oct 28, 2025 4:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesSaskatchewan Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding has introduced the Saskatchewan Internal Trade Promotion Act. It’s the government’s first piece of legislation of the 2025 fall sitting. (Alexander Quon/CBC News)The Saskatchewan government has introduced its first piece of legislation of the 2025 fall sitting, which it says will help promote interprovincial trade and reduce regulatory barriers. The new Saskatchewan Internal Trade Promotion Act passed first reading after being introduced in the legislature on Tuesday. The act would enable “mutual recognition” — a principle under which a good or service considered acceptable in one jurisdiction is considered to be suitable in another.”We’ve had mutual recognition of services for quite a while now, I think actually enshrined in legislation since 2022, but it did not include goods at the time,” said Trade and Export Development Minister Warren Kaeding. “That’s what this act is designed for, to support the mutual recognition of goods across the country.” The idea is to recognize regulatory requirements in other provinces and territories, which would mean Canadian businesses won’t need to go through “unnecessary approval processes,” said Kaeding. Kaeding used widgets as an example of a product that will be covered under the new trade act (widgets can be any kind of gadget or device). “This will cover every widget that is produced across Canada just to make sure that if it’s accepted in the province of Prince Edward Island and it’s deemed to be safe there, that ultimately we would recognize that widget to be deemed to be safe in Saskatchewan,” Kaeding said. Saskatchewan’s trade minister admitted there is still work to do in order to get true interprovincial free trade, but said the government continues to work on reducing the barriers for which it is responsible. Kaeding said he believes other provinces will continue to take action on reducing barriers. “We are also working towards getting that same mutually recognized acceptance in other jurisdictions,” Kaeding said, adding that could come in the form of bilateral or multilateral agreements between provinces. In June, Saskatchewan signed a memorandum of understanding with Ontario that included commitments to reducing internal trade barriers.Saskatchewan NDP trade critic Kim Breckner said the government’s legislation is only one part of what is necessary to support the Canadian economy. Breckner pointed to the province’s decision to reintroduce American liquor to the province’s shelves as a reason to be cautious about the provincial government’s new legislation.”What I want to see is the government literally put their money where their mouth is and commit to these things,” Breckner said. The NDP plans to introduce a private member’s bill on trade, which Breckner said will be a more effective method of addressing internal trade barriers. Breckner said the province’s bill doesn’t address occupational health and safety regulations, and that she’s heard concerns about provinces creating a race to the bottom on workers’ rights.”It’s important that we are protecting our workers and our safety standards here in Saskatchewan,” she said. Interprovincial free tradeLast week, Lt.-Gov. Bernadette McIntyre previewed the new trade act while reading the speech from the throne, saying it was part of the Saskatchewan Party government’s work on making trade across provincial borders easier as international trade relationships have become more challenging.”[The act] will encourage freer trade within our own country and strengthen our Saskatchewan and Canadian economies by reducing interprovincial trade barriers for goods and services,” the throne speech said.Provincial governments across Canada have publicly committed to enhancing internal trade in the face of tariffs implemented by the United States and China. Premier Scott Moe has repeatedly said he wants to streamline internal trade. That is still a work in progress for many provinces. ABOUT THE AUTHORAlexander Quon is the provincial affairs reporter for CBC Saskatchewan. He has been a reporter with CBC Saskatchewan since 2021 and is happy to be working in his hometown of Regina after half a decade in Atlantic Canada. He has previously worked with the CBC News investigative unit in Nova Scotia and Global News in Halifax. Alexander specializes in freedom of information requests and data reporting. He can be reached at: alexander.quon@cbc.ca. FacebookTwitter
Sask. introduces bill on ‘mutual recognition’ to promote interprovincial trade
