Now that we’re talking trade, it works be a good time to address Canada’s internal trade barriers:
“Let’s sit down and come up with a list, because everyone wants to protect something – no matter if it’s the dairy cow in Newfoundland, or the wine in B.C., or ourselves – everyone’s guilty,” he added.
Consumers are confronted by these roadblocks every day. A craft brewery in Quebec can’t sell its beer directly to a nearby restaurant in Ottawa. An engineer in New Brunswick has to get licensed in neighbouring Nova Scotia before practising there. A truck driver in British Columbia can only drive certain truck configurations at night but must do so during the day in Alberta – leaving a narrower time frame to make an interprovincial trek.
Taken together, these barriers are constraining Canada’s economic potential. Research shows that tearing them down would give the economy a sizable boost – perhaps enough to offset the hit from steep U.S. tariffs.
I’m sorry, I thought you were Canadian! Truly, no disrespect intended, apologies if it came across that way. Not many people know about the referendum (either of them) outside of the country, but the France being obsessed with their former colony makes sense lol.
I was just mostly curious as to what the Franco vs Anglo Canadian landscape was before I was born, I have always known the somewhat bilingual landscape we live in now.
Yeah it’s always been bilingual of course, but the relationships between the two communities seemed a lot more tense than they are now.
Think of it back then as Belgium today between the French-speaking and Dutch-speaking regions, if you know anything about that country: sure it’s multiingual - mostly in the Dutch-speaking north and German-speaking east - but be careful in what language you open your trap in which part of the country because you might find yourself very poorly received, to say the least.
I felt that in Canada in the beginning of the naughties when I visited Montreal: I wasn’t well received when I spoke English (sadly with a North American accent) and I wasn’t received any better when I switched to French with a French accent 🙂
The Trudeau bit I watched earlier carried no such stupid undertone, which felt great.
This is such a Quebec experience, lol.
Montreal is a lot more Anglo-friendly these days, but there is still friction with the rest of the local communities from the surrounding cities/towns because a lot of the newer people moving to Montreal don’t really try to learn French. When I spoke French there (with an Ontario accent) they were surprisingly appreciative of it.
Quebec City I had the same experience as you though. The Belgium comparison is apt.
Thank you for sharing your experience! As a US/CAD dual citizen, I’ve always been more pulled to my Canadian side, and I love hearing other people speak about their experiences here.