Why is Canada's economy falling behind America's? The country was slightly richer than Montana in 2019. Now it is just poorer than Alabama. : canada

According to our findings, interprovincial trade barriers impose the equivalent of a 6.9% tariff on goods across Canada—equivalent to more than doubling the current GST.

Some examples:

• Only five provinces, including Alberta, allow the unrestricted transportation of alcohol across provincial borders.

• In BC, certain types of trucks can only be driven at night, but in Alberta, they can only be driven during the day. That leaves truckers only a small window of time when they can cross provincial borders.

• Different provinces have different rules on the kinds of potty seats that can be used on construction sites (CWF, 2019).

• Quebec, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland & Labrador all restrict the export of live snow crabs; each province requires the crab to be processed in-province before being exported (CWF, 2019).

• In some cases, a person cannot provide legal services in Manitoba unless they maintain a physical office in the province.

Not all barriers are as small as these. The most important ones are in areas like labour mobility, transportation, and government procurement. For example, differences in educational requirements or curricula mean that people in professions like social work, nursing, some skilled trades, or even law find their qualifications are not recognized in all provinces and therefore their ability to move around the country and practice their profession is limited.