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Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne clearly don’t see eye-to-eye on much, but it’s good to see they are on the same wavelength when it comes to interprovincial trade.

After their much-anticipated tête-á-tête this month, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that, among other priorities, they had agreed “on the need to reduce barriers to internal trade.”

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tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or John Manley: If Ottawa truly wants to tear down provincial trade barriers, it should start with supply management Back to video

Of course, actions speak louder than words. So here’s a modest proposal: why doesn’t the federal government get things rolling by pushing for reform of supply management — that convoluted mess of federal and provincial policies that actually make it an offence for farmers to sell milk and poultry across provincial boundaries?

Industry Minister James Moore stated recently that the time has come to tear down “dumb” interprovincial trade barriers. Yet at every turn the government runs to the defence of supply management, the most antiquated, anti-competitive sector of the Canadian economy. Something doesn’t add up here.