Protectionism makes us all poorer.

Europe gets it; they understand the benefits productivity brings.

Currently, 27 individual countries make up a political and economic union called the European Union (EU), which represents over 500 million citizens and generates a combined gross domestic product totalling 30% of the worlds GDP. European leaders realized that a common market increases their productivity and strengthens their collective economies, which in turn improves the standard of living for their 500 million citizens.

The Europeans created the European Union, which is a single market that provides a standardised system of laws applying in all member states, guaranteeing the freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital. Considering all the conflicts that have taken place between European states over the decades, the rewards must be immense for so many nationalist countries to break down cross border controls.

Imagine; guaranteeing the free movement of people, goods, services and capital between countries like Germany, France, Poland and the UK. Europeans understand that restrictions to movement of goods and people between counties is destructive to their prosperity.

Yet here in Canada, we have no such free movement. We have a country that erects all sorts of barriers to the free movement of goods and workers between Canadian provinces.

Canadians need to understand that the inter provincial free movement of people, goods, services and capital is vital to the long-term financial health of all Canadians. Our standard of living depends on improving our productivity and studies estimated that the cost to Canadians for inter provincial trade barriers is between $10-$25-billion of our $300-billion in inter provincial trade.

Productivity is a terrible thing to waste.

In 2006, British Columbia's Premier Gordon Campbell and Alberta's Premier Ralph Klein took action to move Canada into the 21st century. Like the EU they signed the most important economic agreement since the North American Free Trade agreement; The Trade, Investment, and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA).

In 2007, Premier Campbell asked "when are we going to decide we're a country?" "When are we going to decide that the free movement of goods and people and services is something that's part of what a national identity should be?" "I think it's ridiculous that someone can be trained as a teacher in Manitoba and isn't able to teach in British Columbia,” Mr. Campbell said.

With a growing global economic crisis facing our nation, Federal and Provincial leaders must break down these barriers to inter provincial trade. It is not enough that only the provinces of BC and Alberta have signed on to the Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement (TILMA).

Today, all provinces must commit to ending inter provincial trade barriers. Our nations economic future is dependant on improving our productivity.