And enhancing economic links between North and South is even more urgent, given the growing risks around climate change. You are already feeling the impact of climate change here, and it will affect almost every aspect of life in the North. Lowering barriers to trade could certainly help mitigate these economic impacts.
The good news is that trade in services among the provinces has been growing rapidly over the past 10 years and is already larger than interprovincial goods trade. The bad news is that goods trade between provinces has basically been stagnant for a decade.