On June 5, the Liberals tabled the One Canadian Economy Bill which removes internal trade barriers between the provinces and facilitates the advancement of national projects in response to the U.S. tariffs situation.

The bill aims to strengthen the Canadian economy by supporting national projects. The first ministers agreed that these should produce clean energy and bring goods to both Canadian and international markets. These include projects such as highways, railways, ports, airports, oil pipelines, critical minerals, mines, nuclear facilities, and electricity transmission systems. The bill would streamline decision points for federal approval, establish a Federal Projects Office, and set standards for what is considered a project of national interest, thus fast tracking the process of realizing these plans.

This bill further emphasizes the government’s commitment to Indigenous rights and includes a doubling of the Indigenous Loan Guarantee Program from $5 billion to $10 billion, thereby enabling indigenous communities to be the owners of these nation building projects.

Moreover, the legislation would reduce internal trade barriers by reducing the burden of federal rules that apply to trade across provincial and territorial borders, meaning that goods or services produced, used, or distributed in line with the requirements of a province or territory would be recognized as meeting comparable federal requirements. This would make it easier for Canadian businesses to sell their products across the country.

Other smaller provisions of the bill include support for labour mobility (allowing the recognition of provincial and territorial licences on the federal level), mutual recognition of the trucking sector project (which would improve interprovincial/territorial trade) and the removal of additional federal exceptions in the Canadian Free Trade Agreement.