On January 1, 2017, Manitoba joined the new Western Partnership Trade Agreement (NWPTA). The NWPTA is an agreement between the governments of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba that creates Canada`s largest, accessible and accessible inter-provincial market. On December 30, 2018, CPT IS entered into force among the first six countries to ratify the agreement: Canada, Australia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore. On 14 January 2019, the CPTPP for Vietnam came into force. While the TIA used a “positive lists” approach and focused on removing trade barriers within the 11 sectors specifically listed1, GASTA uses a “negative list” approach, which means that it automatically applies to the entire economy and any investment, trade in goods and services and trade in the provinces and territories. , with the exception of those expressly excluded. This means that economic sectors such as financial services will be included. While much has been said about GASTA and its effects, the CFTA will not bring about significant changes for occupational regulators, as the provisions on worker mobility are essentially those that existed under the TIA. While regulators should become familiar with the requirements of the CFTA, these requirements will feel familiar. For professional regulators, CFTA is “old wine in new bottles.” Like GASTA, where professional standards vary widely among the contracting parties of the NWPTA, a government can maintain a derogation from the full labour mobility necessary to achieve a legitimate goal such as public safety and security.
Manitoba`s exemptions to total labour mobility for regulated professions, lawyers, nurse practitioners and midwifes licensed under the CFTA also apply under the NWPTA. Like its predecessor, the TIA, the CFTA continues to allow provinces and territories to negotiate other bilateral or multilateral agreements as long as the secondary agreement liberalizes trade, investment or labour mobility beyond the level reached by the CFTA. As a result, the NWPTA will continue to apply to the relationship between Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan. With regard to labour mobility, in the event of inconsistency between the CTFA and the NWPTA, priority will be given to the agreement that promotes labour mobility in this particular case. Although GASTA has plateaued as “the most ambitious free trade agreement” and “the biggest step forward,” and while it has been stated that it would facilitate workers` access to employment in other provinces, the impact of the CFTA on labour mobility and professional regulatory organizations is in fact quite limited. The CPTPP contains many public procurement provisions, which are similar to Canada`s other obligations in the international trade agreement on non-discrimination, fairness, openness and transparency. Unless otherwise provided by the CPTPP, its procurement obligations apply to the Province of British Columbia and to provincial departments, boards of directors, commissions, agencies and committees. CFTA`s labour mobility obligations are in line with the obligations of the previous internal trade agreement.
These obligations reflect Manitoba`s obligation to ensure full labour mobility for certified workers in regulated occupations (occupations and occupations) that apply in Manitoba in other Canadian jurisdictions. The CFTA, whose text and details were published on April 7, 2017, is a trade agreement between the governments of Canada, the ten provinces and the three territories. The objective of the framework policy is to “remove and remove as much as possible barriers to the free movement of people, goods, services and investment in Canada`s Breast and to create an open, efficient and stable internal market.” In 1995, all of the province`s premiers and prime ministers signed an agreement on internal trade
