REGINA-Saskatchewan Party Leader Brad Wall today said a Saskatchewan Party government would work to reduce inter-provincial trade barriers through negotiations with BC, Alberta and other provinces, but would not sign the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) in its present form.

Wall was responding to the recent release of a report by an all-party legislative committee examining TILMA.

“The Saskatchewan Party strongly supports the reduction of inter-provincial trade barriers as a means to grow Saskatchewan’s economy and create new jobs,” Wall said.  “It is very unfortunate that Saskatchewan’s NDP government did not take part in the original TILMA negotiations with BC and Alberta.

“As a result, the Saskatchewan Party would not sign TILMA in its present form since our province had no part in negotiating its terms.”

Wall said the Opposition’s own research and the TILMA hearings raised specific concerns about three areas which are not clearly addressed in the current TILMA agreement:

1. The protection of Crown Corporations;
2. The exemption of provincial new growth tax incentives; and
3. The potential loss of new growth tax incentives at the municipal level.

Wall said he was also concerned about the lack of formal input from Saskatchewan cities, who are awaiting a TILMA assessment report scheduled for the end of this year.

“Our Enterprise Saskatchewan plan for the economy involves direct input from stakeholders including the municipal sector,” Wall said.  “How could we enter into a major trade and investment agreement without their formal input and assessment? 

“Our goal would be to negotiate trade agreements with BC, Alberta and other provinces that reduce trade barriers while protecting these three important areas,” Wall said.  “We know that Alberta and BC officials have indicated that having Saskatchewan sign on without any revisiting of the agreement would not make sense for those two provinces either.”

Wall said he prefers other modes of western economic cooperation including Saskatchewan’s involvement in the Pacific North West Economic Region (PNWER) and he has already indicated that a Saskatchewan Party government would hold joint cabinet meetings with other western provinces to explore opportunities to cooperate in areas such as health care equipment and pharmaceutical purchases.

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For further information: Saskatchewan Party Caucus, Regina, 787-4300