When Canadians talk about free trade, they're usually referring to the international context. Maybe that's because it's easier to figure out than the Gordian knot of domestic trade barriers that have gone up over the decades. Lawyer Ryan Manucha (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanmanu...) makes a heroic effort to untangle it all in his book, "Booze, Cigarettes, and Constitutional Dustups: Canada's Quest for Interprovincial Free Trade." (https://www.mqup.ca/boozecigarettes...)

The book won this year's Donner Prize (https://donnerbookprize.com/) for the best public policy thinking, writing, and research by a Canadian.

This episode of The Agenda (https://www.tvo.org/theagenda) was hosted by Steve Paikin (  / spaikin  ) and was produced by Meredith Martin (  / meredithmartin  )

00:00 Intro
00:55 Gerard Comeau’s story
03:00 What defines us as Canadian?
03:50 Section 121 of the Canadian Constitution
05:55 Comeau goes to the Supreme Court and loses
07:46 Section 121 is still there in our constitution?
08:30 What was the state of trade in 1867?
10:20 How does it work elsewhere?
11:30 What are the rules around beer?
13:20 Is it nuts we have trade barriers?
14:10 Protectionism also equals respect for differences
15:30 The Canadian Free Trade Agreement
17:45 Ryan’s story

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