Promoting Canada’s internal trade

The message from MP David Wilks was a re-issue of statements made in March by Federal Minister of Industry James Moore

(L to R) Dave Struthers, president, Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce; David Wilks, MP, Kootenay-Columbia; Marty Gundarson, project manager, River's Crossing. — Marie Milner photo

At the general luncheon held by the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce on April 15, keynote speaker David Wilks (Conservative MP, Kootenay-Columbia), reiterated the message delivered in March by James Moore, federal minister of industry.

Wilks reviewed the state of the economy and the benefits of the free trade agreements in place between Canada and Europe, Canada and the U.S., and Canada and South Korea. He also pointed out that province-to-province trade is handicapped by a spirit of protectionism that is reflected in legal restrictions to that trade, and that Canada’s economy suffers from this short-range thinking.

Wilks said that there’s a great deal of power at the municipal level of government, and he urged the Cranbrook business community to become a force for eliminating the barriers to internal trade.