Canada in a Bucket: It’s Time to Stop Holding Ourselves Back

Canada in a Bucket: It’s Time to Stop Holding Ourselves Back

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Lynn Exner - It's Time to Build Canada Up and Secure Our Economic Future

For decades, Canada’s provinces have behaved like crabs in a bucket—pulling each other down instead of lifting each other up. Instead of working together to build a stronger economy, we’ve allowed outdated trade barriers, regulatory red tape, and political infighting to stifle our own potential.

In my work advocating for Canadian resource development, I see it all the time. Canada has everything the world needs—energy, minerals, lumber, food, and more. But instead of ensuring our own domestic economy is strong and efficient, we’ve made it harder for businesses to grow, both within our borders and beyond them. Instead of celebrating and capitalizing on each other’s strengths, we have spent too much time competing internally, blocking opportunities, and making it difficult to trade internationally and within our own country.

That might have been tolerated in the past, when global trade was predictable and our largest trading partners were reliable. But the world has changed. Tariffs are being weaponized, supply chains are shifting, and countries everywhere are prioritizing their own industries.

If Canada wants to remain competitive, we need to start acting like a country—one with an internal economy that functions as smoothly as our external trade agreements.

The good news is that momentum is finally building to address this issue. Canada’s leaders are talking about dismantling interprovincial trade barriers—something that should have happened long ago. The challenge now is to make sure that this talk turns into action. It has been suggested it could take as little as 30 days. We can’t afford another decade of stalled negotiations, watered-down agreements, and excuses for inaction. It’s time to demand real change and hold our leaders accountable to follow through.

Every region of Canada produces something the rest of the country and the world need. Alberta’s oil and gas, Saskatchewan’s potash, Ontario’s manufacturing, Quebec’s hydroelectric power, British Columbia’s ports, and Atlantic Canada’s fisheries—these industries are the backbone of our economy. They should be supported, expanded, and celebrated. Instead, businesses and workers trying to move goods, services, and expertise across provincial lines face obstacles that weaken our ability to compete globally.

One of the most common-sense solutions is a National Energy and Resource Corridor—a dedicated infrastructure network that allows for the efficient transport of energy, minerals, and other critical resources across the country. Instead of every project facing jurisdictional battles and costly delays, a coordinated, pre-approved corridor would streamline trade and investment, ensuring that Canadian products reach both domestic and international markets without unnecessary obstacles. It would also provide a foundation for future development—whether in oil and gas, renewable energy, or critical minerals—giving businesses and investors the certainty they need to support long-term growth.

We see the need for this in our supply chains, where businesses deal with costly delays just trying to move products between provinces. We see it in our labour markets, where skilled workers face unnecessary barriers to working in other regions of the country. And we see it in national infrastructure projects that could benefit all Canadians but get tangled in red tape.

These inefficiencies cost our economy billions of dollars every year—money that should be driving investment, innovation, and job creation instead of being lost to unnecessary restrictions.

In normal times, this would be frustrating. In today’s economic and geopolitical climate, it’s reckless. The global marketplace is shifting, and Canada must be ready to meet the challenge. Instead of being held back by internal divisions, we need to work together to make Canada a stronger, more self-sufficient, and more competitive trading nation.

We’ve proven that cooperation is possible when it’s absolutely necessary. Now, we need to treat it as a permanent priority, not just a temporary fix during a crisis. This is not just about economic efficiency—it’s about Canada’s ability to stand strong in a changing world.

There is no reason why a Canadian business should have to navigate different rules and restrictions just to expand into another province. There is no reason why a worker should have to requalify to do the same job in a different part of the country. And there is certainly no reason why major projects that create jobs and economic growth should be stalled for years over jurisdictional disputes.

A crisis like this is a terrible thing to waste. The global economy is shifting, and Canada has a choice. We can cling to outdated provincial protectionism and regulatory inefficiencies, or we can remove these barriers and finally build a true national economy. We can keep acting like crabs in a bucket, pulling each other down, or we can recognize that our strength lies in working together. Instead of standing in each other’s way, we should be celebrating each other’s strengths and ensuring that every region of the country can contribute fully to our shared prosperity.

Canada has faced major challenges before, and we’ve always been at our best when we face them as a united country. Now, more than ever, we need to tap into that spirit—not just to fix today’s problems, but to prepare for whatever surprises the future holds. The time for provincial rivalries, excessive regulation, and economic inefficiency is over.

It’s time to break free from the bucket and move forward as a stronger, more competitive, and more resilient Canada.

Lynn Exner is a spokesperson for Canada Action, a volunteer-initiated grassroots group dedicated to promoting natural resource development and economic growth in Canada.