There’s been a positive, albeit unintended consequence of U.S. President Donald Trump’s wild tariff threats. Canadian policy-makers appear ready to address barriers to interprovincial trade, at long last.

We will believe this when we see it, but there are at least a few stars in alignment.

I spoke with Simon Gaudreault, chief economist and vice-president of research at the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) this week for a piece about how the uncertainty surrounding tariffs has begun impacting small and mid-sized businesses across the country. Gaudreault told me that he’s seeing hopeful signs.

“It’s been progressing very slowly for too long,” he said. “What was lacking was a lot of leadership at the political level. … We’re certainly hoping to see less talk and more decisions, more actions being taken in the very short term to tear down trade barriers.”

It won’t be enough to make up for Trump’s tariffs, but it’s difficult to imagine this not being part of whatever package Ottawa and the provinces cook up to support Canadian business owners.

“Our understanding is that governments right now are focused on the area of transportation, where there’s a pilot project being discussed,” Gaudreault said. “We’d also like to see more progress made on health and safety.” CFIB has advocated for greater harmonization of workplace regulations.

While we’re at it, how about we take a fresh look at a country-wide securities regulator?

It’s been almost four years since the Capital Markets Authority Implementation Organization gave up on the idea. At the time, FAIR Canada’s executive director of investor advocacy group Jean-Paul Bureaud told us, “At this stage, it’s better to recognize the reality that the political will and the momentum just wasn’t there to get [a national regulator] over the finish line.”

I wonder if that’s still true.

A B.C. woman has lost a bid to vary her mother’s will and place her $1.8-million inheritance into a Henson trust in order to shield her disability benefits. James Langton reports on the court ruling.

A brewing trade war could put Canada’s housing market at risk, RBC said this week, comparing assessing the outlook for housing to “putting a price on a home before an earthquake — it’s hard to know what shape the structure will be in at the end of the day.” Read the story by James Langton.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Noushin Ziafati took a look at the close ties between a couple’s finances and the health of their relationship, and why a big part of financial advisors’ jobs is as “relationship managers.”

Markets and Canadian industry leaders alike have reacted mildly in the face of U.S. tariffs threats, despite the “severe pain” a trade war would bring, says John DeGoey, portfolio manager with Designed Securities Ltd. He argues that stance is “naïve.”