The blog is back online. There are a few posts to catch up on.
Shipley has an interesting story this morning on McKenna talking up Atl. Canada economic development.
Citing interprovincial trade barriers, McKenna says:
The former premier pointed out a sign at the New Brunswick-Nova Scotia border that highlighted the ridiculousness of some trade barriers. The sign banned New Brunswick bees from crossing into Nova Scotia. “They bees do not know this,” he said.
I would take that one step further. When you are driving on the Trans Canada Highway from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick, you never see a kilometre distance sign to Moncton (or vice versa). You see “New Brunswick border”. It’s a small thing but it goes to the heart of the lack of cooperation for over a century. NS had a beer deal with Quebec and it didn’t want to do one with NB. Moncton window manufacturers – with cheaper prices – couldn’t get contracts in Nova Scotia 30 years ago. A simple sign saying xx kilometres to Moncton or Halifax is impossible because of a ‘border’.
I have said this ad nauseum. The Atlantic Provinces are reluctant to cooperate because of the slight possibility that one might get ahead of the other. Heaven forbid.