Many long-time residents of Western Canada question why the 3 western-most provinces, who rely so much on one another and who interact to the degree that they do, never thought of this before. Between the three provinces, B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan, there has finally been an agreement to function, more or less, as a single economic zone. Between oil and gas, mining, farming and lumber, these three provinces also share a major part of their population. Many people leave their native province to zip into one of the others for work. Closer to the Alberta / BC border, some even live in one and while working in the other.

So now that the premiers of B.C., Alberta and Saskatchewan have finally signed a deal that has helped remove those barriers and encourages these provinces to function more as a single economic zone, what exactly does this mean? Well, under the new West Partnership Agreement, these changes mean that professional qualifications and business licenses that were earned in one province will be transferable and recognized by each of the three partnering provinces. This is great news for the trades industry or for anyone who holds a skills ticket. This means if you are a teacher who earned a teaching certificate in Alberta, you will be able to gain certification and teach in either B.C. or Saskatchewan.

Saskatchewan's Brad Wall was quoted as saying "We signed an agreement today that creates an amazing economic force: the new west, an economic region of 9 million people strong and $555 billion in GDP is an economic region that is home to a number of industries the world is very interested in right now." There are also plans of promoting the three provinces together. The first of these joint promotions will take place next month when the three premiers share a trip to Japan and China. They hope such joint promotions will help attract investment and talent into the provinces.

Among some of the other benefits they see are using the provinces' joint purchasing power to get better deals from suppliers for necessities such as prescription drugs, school equipment and textbooks. This should be a substantial savings for the provinces, which, in turn, should be a substantial savings for its residents. The Canadian Federation of Independent Business supported the new agreement, saying it hopes this will solve some of the labour shortage problems. This agreement should make finding work easier for certified trades people.