What Michael Wilson had to say:

Free trade between Canada and the United States will benefit all Canadian regions and all broadly defined industrial sectors. Consumers will gain as a result of the broader availability of goods at lower prices. As a result of eliminating Canada-U.S. tariffs, the cost of U.S. consumer goods imported into Canada should be reduced by about 5 per cent. Businesses will gain through reduced prices of imported intermediate goods, lower production costs made possible by the realization of economies of scale, and reduced uncertainty as a result of the more secure access to the large U.S. market.

Even Canada's more protected industries will benefit from Canada-U.S. free trade, for several reasons. First, those industries which receive high protection in Canada are often highly protected in the United States as well, so that the elimination of trade barriers between the two countries will leave the relative competitive position of these industries largely unaffected. Second, the more highly protected industries often have the potential to substantially reduce production costs through specialization and longer production runs which will be made possible by the improved and more secure access to the huge U.S. market. Third, removing tariffs will lower the cost of imported products, not only for consumers but for producers as well. This will allow Canadian industries using intermediate products imported from the United States to reduce their production costs and become more competitive, not only in the U.S. but also in overseas markets such as the EEC.

 Source: Canada, Department of Finance, The Canada3/4 U..S. Free Trade Agreement: An Economic Assessment, Executive Summary, undated, pp. 53/4 6.