Article content

I truly never thought I’d be writing these words, but it seems as though internal free trade is all the rage in Canada these days.

Last week, federal Industry Minister James Moore met with industry ministers from all the provinces to talk about renewing — and, let’s face it, giving some teeth to — the Agreement on Internal Trade, which has been next to useless in its current form.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Marni Soupcoff: Government wants free trade, as long as it can still prosecute your cross-border beer run to Quebec Back to video

“What Canadian products do you want to see on your store shelves?” the Industry Canada website asks. “Tell us on Twitter with #internaltrade.”

Op-eds singing the praises of freeing up trade between the provinces soon followed. And in an attempt to show just how hip the issue really is, Industry Canada has even started pushing a hashtag on the subject.

“What Canadian products do you want to see on your store shelves?” the Industry Canada website asks. “Tell us on Twitter with #internaltrade.”

OK, so a quick check of the hashtag reveals that it’s mostly being used by Industry Canada itself for purposes of self-congratulation, with a handful of tweets from wonks and chambers of commerce thrown in for good measure. No grass-roots campaign for artisanal Manitoba Gouda to be sold in Toronto grocery stores has yet to go viral. But still, this is progress.