Creating Opportunity Here at Home

Like many Nova Scotians, I am frustrated that we are once again facing uncertainty around trade with the United States. Whatever happens at the negotiating table, my focus is on what we can do here at home.

We need to build a stronger, more prosperous and more self-reliant Nova Scotia. That means supporting local businesses and producers, but it also means making Nova Scotia a place where industry wants to invest, grow and create jobs.

We have already taken important steps. Nova Scotia introduced the Free Trade and Mobility Within Canada Act to help remove interprovincial trade barriers and make it easier for goods, services and workers to move across participating provinces.

We have also introduced measures to reduce unnecessary red tape and streamline permitting through the Making Business Easier Act. That work matters because if we want companies to choose Nova Scotia, expand here and put people to work, we need to make sure government is not putting unnecessary obstacles in their way.

Supporting local will always matter, but we cannot build a stronger economy by looking inward alone. We need to attract investment, develop our resources responsibly, grow our existing industries, create new ones and make Nova Scotia competitive with anywhere else a company might choose to do business.

The uncertainty we are seeing with the United States is another reminder that we need to diversify our economy and strengthen what we have here at home.

We have moved the needle, but there is much more to do.

Nova Scotia has the people, resources and potential. Our job is to turn that potential into investment, businesses, jobs and stronger communities.

That is how we build a more prosperous Nova Scotia.