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This might strike some as odd. Hadn’t the premiers fixed this already? Wasn’t it just over a year ago that the provinces were congratulating themselves on the grandly named Canadian Free Trade Agreement, resolving the issue once and for all? Of course, that 329-page document contained 167 pages of exceptions, but still, it was a huge improvement, was it not, on the previous Agreement on Internal Trade, unveiled with no less fanfare in 1995?

Apparently not. A year later, the president of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business tells the CBC that virtually no progress has been made: “I don’t think there’s anything that has changed.” Hence the sense of anticipation before this week’s meeting: this time would be different! “I believe the appetite will be there,” Gallant said. “I sense from my colleagues that there’s a willingness to take concrete action.”

And the result? The premiers — sorry, the Council — agreed to increase, slightly, the amount of beer and wine that could be brought across provincial borders. There was talk the limits might even be doubled — from three cases of beer to six! — but in the end even that commitment was scrubbed as too ambitious.

As for the rest, the premiers agreed to “immediate and meaningful” action on such urgent priorities as harmonizing export rules for abattoirs and setting common standards for First Aid courses.

So, this time was … pretty much the same. But no matter. The premiers will meet again this fall, this time with the prime minister. Surely he can succeed where others have failed. After all, wasn’t it this prime minister who, a little over two years ago, coaxed and cajoled the premiers into signing the “Vancouver Declaration,” committing them all to — or committing them to discussing — a “pan-Canadian framework” for reducing Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions, notably by the use of “carbon pricing mechanisms,” albeit “adapted to each province’s specific circumstances.”