Interprovincial Collaboration Is Strengthening Canadian Manufacturing
Recently, manufacturers, chamber leaders, educators, and economic development partners gathered during an Alberta-Manitoba interprovincial trade mission supported through EMC’s national network. The goal was simple: build relationships and create opportunities so Canadian firms can buy from – and sell to – each other more easily. But the conversations that unfolded made something else clear: Canada’s manufacturing competitiveness is increasingly shaped by tariffs, currency swings, workforce shortages, procurement uncertainty, the basic challenge of finding reliable suppliers at home, and more.
If you want a quick snapshot of why interprovincial trade matters, don’t start with policy. Start with a shop floor.
What emerged from the mission and the panel discussion was a practical, industry-led argument for interprovincial trade: a stronger domestic supply chain is Canada’s fastest path to resilience and growth.
The supply chain: start close, scale outward
Manufacturing supply chains aren’t robust because someone writes a strategy document. They become robust because companies can quickly answer three questions:
- Who can do the work?
- Can I trust their capability and quality?
- Can we move goods, people, and projects efficiently?
The most useful framework shared was explicitly and implicitly that a concentric approach to supply chain development was needed:
- Regional first: build density close to home (local suppliers, service providers, training partners, repair capability).
- Provincial next: connect capacity across Alberta or Manitoba so firms can scale without immediately leaving the province.
- Interprovincial corridors: create reliable pathways between provinces, especially for components, specialized services, and talent.
- National clusters: once corridors work, national ecosystems become real (transportation, aerospace, defence, ag-manufacturing, energy services).
That inside-out model matters because it mirrors how manufacturers actually de-risk decisions. Before a company sources globally, it tries to solve problems nearby if it can find the right partner and the rules make it possible.
Tariffs didn’t just raise prices – they forced redesign
One manufacturer described how fast trade policy turns into shop-floor decisions. With roughly 90% of sales historically in the U.S., they’ve been working to keep more value-added work in Canada, helped by the cost stability of sourcing locally when currency shifts.
When tariffs changed in November, the company adjusted quickly: reorganizing where certain mounting work happens, rerouting product through Minneapolis, and redeploying five or six employees into other roles to keep production rising and customers served.
A mid-sized machining firm echoed the same theme: tariff rules can be inconsistent, even on specialized materials that can only be sourced from the U.S. But the response from industry is practical, not political. Manufacturers adapt fast, redesign workflows, and keep goods moving.
“Buy Canadian” meets a hard limit: capability gaps and visibility
Nearly every participant expressed some version of the same constraint: we want to localize where we can, but sometimes the supplier simply doesn’t exist in Canada, or isn’t discoverable.
Even when suppliers exist, distribution models can work against domestic sourcing. One manufacturer explained that Canadian distributors don’t always stock what their operations need, forcing them back to U.S. sources or offshore options. In practice, “domestic-first” isn’t a moral stance, it’s often a capability and inventory issue.
For small and medium-sized firms, the biggest barrier is often time. Every hour spent researching interprovincial compliance, standards, and new sector requirements is an hour taken away from running the business. Without better visibility and a clearer path forward, SMEs can get stuck: they know diversification is necessary, but the starting point is unclear and the overhead feels heavy.
That’s why the most important barrier isn’t always a regulation. Sometimes it’s discoverability: not being able to quickly find who can do what, where, and with what certifications.
Removing barriers is necessary—but not sufficient
There was an important reality check shared from the chamber perspective: you can dismantle barriers and harmonize rules, but if companies don’t have relationships, or can’t find each other, commerce still won’t happen.
This is where the discussion turned toward infrastructure for connection, not just policy. Through EMC’s national network, trade missions are increasingly designed to do more than introduce firms, they are intended to create continuity between in-person engagement and ongoing B2B collaboration.
That’s where EMC’s new Supplyflow tool entered the conversation with real momentum.
The premise is straightforward: create an open, searchable capability system where businesses can publish what they do, what they need, and what certifications they hold, all supported by trusted partners such as chambers, industry associations, and networks that help validate profiles.
With roughly business profiles already active and thousands more expected over the coming months, the goal is national discoverability. If a manufacturer can’t find the right supplier locally, they can look across provincial borders quickly, and with more confidence.
This isn’t just a technology platform. It’s interprovincial trade infrastructure: visibility and trust, at scale.
Plant tours and missions aren’t networking – they’re due diligence
One of the strongest messages across the mission was also the simplest: bring people into facilities.
Plant tours do what websites and procurement portals can’t. They show reality, capacity constraints, quality systems, shop discipline, and operational fit. When paired with structured matchmaking, trade missions compress time. They accelerate the trust curve and move companies from “we should talk” to “we could build together.”
Workforce: the constraint that touches everything
No matter where the conversation started, tariffs, supply chain, procurement, interprovincial trade, it kept returning to one issue: workforce.
Companies cited specific shortages: welders, painters, electrical and 12-volt technicians, skilled machinists. Larger manufacturers reinforced the same concern, noting that scaling Canadian production depends on predictable hiring pipelines, not cycles of ramp-up and layoffs driven by sporadic procurement.
The discussion quickly moved beyond headcount into strategy: earlier work-integrated learning, better access to applied research, and digital literacy as a baseline skill as compliance requirements increase.
A post-secondary leader summed it up with a phrase that stuck: parity of esteem. Trades and technical careers must be valued with the same urgency as other pathways because the economy depends on them.
Treat talent like a supply chain
One of the most compelling ideas came from Alberta’s approach to talent pipeline management – treating workforce like a supply chain that can be designed, measured, and improved.
The model starts with industry demand and aligns training capacity accordingly. And just as supply chains cross provincial borders, talent must be able to move with them.
Predictable demand and standardized rules unlock investment
For larger manufacturers, the message was pragmatic: Canadian manufacturing footprint expands when demand is predictable.
Publicly funded procurement cycles and domestic-content rules matter enormously. Two needs stood out:
- Stable, predictable procurement
- Consistent definitions of Canadian content across jurisdictions
Without alignment, even well-intentioned policies can fragment domestic supply chains.
A shared conclusion: cautious optimism—if we build together
The closing tone was neither gloomy nor naïve. Manufacturers expressed confidence in new product lines and market opportunities while acknowledging that tariffs, compliance demands, and technology transitions will create challenges.
For SMEs, the message was clear: standing still is no longer an option. Growth now requires diversification across sectors, across provinces, and across partnerships.
That brings us back to interprovincial trade.
It matters because it’s the most practical pathway to a unified Canadian manufacturing economy. Not through slogans, but through the everyday mechanics of making things: finding suppliers, moving goods, training people, and building trust.
Trade starts at home. The question now is whether we build the infrastructure policy, platforms, and partnerships to make buying Canadian not just desirable, but easier to do.