Labour Leaders Sound Alarm on Premier Holt’s Push for Interprovincial Free Trade

Premier Susan Holt has made interprovincial trade liberalization a key plank of her response to the U.S. trade war, but union leaders warn the move could erode hard-won worker protections, especially in areas like health and safety.

“Workers could lose hard-won rights and benefits if provinces mutually agree to recognize each other’s standards and move to the lowest level of standards,” said the New Brunswick Federation of Labour in a statement. “We must ensure that moving between provinces doesn’t mean losing out on safety, pay, or working conditions.”

The federation is urging the province to establish working groups that include representatives from labour, Indigenous communities, and business. The NB Media Co-op has reached out to the provincial government for comment.

Senior Canadian labour leaders have cautioned that internal trade liberalization is largely driven by business interests that don't reflect the priorities of workers.

“The whole program of internal trade liberalization is, at best, a distraction from what's urgently needed right now,” said Chris Roberts, national director of the Social and Economic Policy Department at the Canadian Labour Congress. “At worst, it undermines good jobs.”

Roberts made the comments during a Thursday webinar on the economic impact of tariffs in the Atlantic region. The event was hosted by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives–NS and the Nova Scotia Federation of Labour, and featured a roundtable discussion with Unifor national president Lana Payne and Newfoundland and Labrador Federation of Labour president Jessica McCormick.

“We can't allow [interprovincial free trade] to be a Trojan horse for deregulation and weakening protections that unions have long fought for on behalf of our members,” said McCormick. “Nor can we allow those corporations to roll back the progress we've made at the bargaining table.”

Internal trade liberalization has become a key focus for Canadian political leaders in the wake of former U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade war. In March, Holt announced that her Liberal government would review “internal trade barriers” as part of its broader strategy to respond to U.S. tariffs. Since then, she has proposed creating a “free trade area” within the Atlantic region.

The province has highlighted recent legislative amendments to liberalize alcohol sales and increase interprovincial labour mobility, and has signed free trade memoranda of understanding with both Ontario and Newfoundland.

“We want to create as much opportunity as possible for our businesses to thrive in new markets, both within New Brunswick and across Canada,” said Holt, who previously served as head of the NB Business Council, in a statement announcing the MOU with Ontario.

The federal government has also signalled intentions to remove several internal trade barriers.

At last week’s roundtable, speakers agreed that the current moment presents a potential opening for workers and allies to push for progressive reforms and investments in public services and infrastructure. But they stressed that a united labour movement is essential to make governments act.

“We have described this as the fight of our lives, because it is,” said Payne, president of Unifor, Canada’s largest private-sector union. “We have already seen job losses across the country. We have seen a lost investment. We have seen shelved investment. This is very, very dangerous for the future economy. It’s very dangerous for the manufacturing sector. And Donald Trump has been very clear—he’s coming for our jobs.”

David Gordon Koch is a staff reporter with the NB Media Co-op. Jeff Bate Boerop is a volunteer with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, administered by the Canadian Association of Community Television Users and Stations (CACTUS).