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ShareInterprovincial trade deal grows
By Tom Fletcher - Goldstream News Gazette
Published: October 09, 2008 1:00 PM
Updated: October 09, 2008 2:45 PM
Management accountants in B.C. and Alberta are the latest group to harmonize their professional standards under the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA) so they can work in either province.
TILMA comes into effect in full in April 2009, when municipalities and school boards are affected. Municipal governments will be exempt from interprovincial trade rules when buying goods and services up to $75,000 and construction projects up to $200,000.
B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach hailed the interprovincial deal as a model for the country at their recent joint cabinet meeting in Prince George.
Stelmach noted that he has attended all six cabinet meetings with B.C. In June Alberta and Saskatchewan had their first one, and Ontario and Quebec are now looking at a trade and employment agreement, he said.
Campbell said there are still 220,000 regulations to be reviewed by next April, and the two provinces are working on a combined missing persons database and co-operation on family maintenance enforcement.
Alberta is also studying B.C.’s building code that allows wood construction up to six storeys.
