From December 2008 BC Gov Press Release
Full labour mobility between provinces was confirmed today by agreement among Canada’s
labour and trade ministers, breaking down economic barriers and allowing Canadians and their families to move freely throughout the country, Premier Gordon Campbell said today.Negotiated as part of Canada’s Agreement on Internal Trade (AIT), the new labour mobility
provisions require that, effective April 1, 2009, people with a specific professional or occupational
certification in one province or territory will be recognized as qualified to practise their profession in all provinces and territories where their profession or occupation is regulated.
I have previously written about the BC-Alberta Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Trade Agreement here. ECE's were included in this agreement, so one can assume that this will also be the case for the new National agreement. Therefore, so long as an ECE is certified in one Province it should eventually be fairly straightforward for their credentials to be accepted and recognized in all others as well. This is very good news as it will assist with the current qualified staffing shortages across the country. In addition, it should make the process to obtaining a license to practice much less challenging in certain Provinces, especially PEI.
Yes, finally we move a bit, it’s really shame to have economic barriers inside the own country! But I am not sure this law will solve it completely – there are some loop-holes allowing any province to opt out for “legitimate provincial objectives” – and I guess this will be misused, when needed…
Regards,
Elli