The Board of Governors for the Certified General Accountants Association of Saskatchewan  (CGA SK) are welcoming a momentous Panel ruling under the Agreement on Internal Trade  (AIT) that confirms labour mobility for Certified General Accountants seeking to practise public accounting in Ontario.

A Panel was formed to address a complaint made by the Government of Manitoba under the AIT.  The Governments of British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan supported the challenge as interveners.  These Governments launched the challenge on the grounds that the Ontario regime causes or has caused injury to CGAs, impaired internal trade and was not justified to meet a legitimate objective.  The AIT Panel’s report came at the conclusion of a comprehensive dispute resolution process which began almost 15 months ago.

“Regulated occupations across Canada such as CGAs have a high degree of commonality in their professional standards,” Advanced Education, Employment and Immigration Minister Rob Norris said.  “I am pleased that the AIT Panel has recognized those commonalities and ruled in favour of Saskatchewan.  This improved labour mobility will benefit workers, employers and communities.”

The AIT includes labour mobility rules to ensure that certifications earned in one province are recognized in other provinces for equivalent occupations.  This ruling is the first of its kind under the AIT.

Now that the AIT Panel has ruled that the regulations in question are unfair, Ontario has until April 15, 2012 to comply with the ruling.  For more information on the ruling, please visit www.ait-aci.ca.