Financial Feifdoms - Our Canadian Provinces - Argh!

One thing that would improve our country and bring it forward from the 19th century to the 21st would be to have one set of rules governing personal finances. Every time I read up on a topic to prepare a blog entry, I find that every province has a different set of laws and regulations, sometimes almost the same, sometimes quite different.

Some examples:

• Income taxes
• Sales taxes
• Securities legislation
• Estates, wills and trusts
• Family law
• Health insurance
• Real estate
  

Is the truth as invented in Ontario really so much better for its citizens than that of Alberta or Quebec? Do you suddenly become a different person with different needs when you move? In this day and age of mobility and cross-border everything, it can be very confusing whose set of rules applies. It's hard enough having to learn one set.

Rather than have endless commissions, task forces and committees of bureaucrats working away for decades with limited effect, perhaps we could have a Charter of Simplification Rights which would allow a citizen to pick any province's they wish in each domain and to follow those wherever they might be in the country. The provinces with unattractive laws would find out in a hurry which was the best as people voted with their money. A little competition amongst governments might help a lot. I'd expect soon all provinces would be the same. It's just a thought.