The Government of Saskatchewan's current efforts to supplement the nation's interprovincial trade could be affecting business in the southwest.

The province recently signed an amendment to the Canadian Free Trade Agreement (CFTA), hoping to mitigate or eliminate trade exceptions.

Saskatchewan, joined by Alberta and Ontario, is moving forward to change the way interprovincial reductions and eliminations of trade restrictions are handled.

Currently, all governing bodies, included in the CFTA, must sign off on reductions or eliminations to trade restrictions. As it stands right now, this process can take up to two years.

The change being lobbied for would allow only the groups involved in the actual trade dealings to adjust restrictions.

Everett Hindley, Swift Current MLA and Government of Saskatchewan Whip, said these changes to the agreement theoretically would benefit businesses in the area.

"Between e-commerce and everything else, it's so much easier to find a new market, it just makes sense that we make it easier for businesses in Swift Current and across Saskatchewan to access those markets right here in Canada."

He said that the need for change to the agreement was realized as pipeline development in Ontario was held up.

The amendment requires approval from all other signatories in the CFTA.