As Canada faces growing economic pressures and ongoing labour shortages, Gananoque Mayor John Beddows is calling for a bold shift in how the country regulates its workforce: national free trade in labour.
In a social media post last week, Beddows questioned why interprovincial trade barriers remain firmly in place for workers, even as discussions ramp up about easing restrictions on goods. He argues that Canada’s province-by-province system of professional certification is outdated and actively hinders the country’s ability to meet labour demands.
“No matter your qualification, profession, or trade, licenses and certifications are issued by provinces, and moving from one province to another most often means that you need to re-certify or re-license to be able to work,” Beddows wrote.
He points to shortages in critical sectors—including health care, education, and skilled trades—where a more seamless system could allow professionals to move where they are most needed without bureaucratic roadblocks.
“What if your teacher’s certificate qualified you to teach in any province or territory in the dominion? What if your qualification as a nurse or aircraft mechanic meant that you could move from province to province seamlessly and just go to work?” Beddows asked. “Why not adopt the same standard for licensing from coast to coast to coast to the Canada-U.S. border?”
Currently, each province and territory maintains control over licensing standards, often requiring workers to undergo additional testing or certification when relocating.
While some efforts have been made to streamline recognition of credentials across provinces—particularly in the health-care sector—Beddows believes a fully national approach is necessary to unlock true labour mobility.
“The provinces, including Ontario, jealously guard their control of education,” said Beddows. “If all provinces and territories adopted common standards for trades and professions across the entire spectrum, that wouldn’t end their control of standards. What would happen is that we, as Canadians, would be free to simply move to where our skills are needed and go to work. Part of the solution for labour shortages is labour mobility and the current, highly fragmented regulatory framework doesn’t enable labour mobility. In many ways, the current system is actually a block to labour mobility.
His proposal is a single, universal licensing system that allows Canadians to take their qualifications anywhere in the country without restrictions.
While this would require co-operation between provinces, Beddows asserts it wouldn’t eliminate local control over standards. Instead, it would create a more flexible workforce able to respond to labour shortages in real time.
“I believe that it is time we adopted universal, national qualification standards to allow Canadians to seamlessly port their qualifications to any jurisdiction in the country and just go to work,” wrote Beddows.
