NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE - The ties that bind Ontario and Quebec will soon bind a little tighter.

Ministers from both provinces will meet in Toronto on Nov. 21 for a joint cabinet meeting. The meeting will focus chiefly on internal trade, energy and other shared priorities for the current governments of Ontario and Quebec. Another dual cabinet meeting will take place in 2015 in Quebec City, Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard said at an economic outlook conference Friday.

Premier Kathleen Wynne noted the two provinces make up more than half of Canada's GDP, which "means that Ontario and Quebec must be strong, an economic power as well as an influencer, as well as a political stronghold."

Couillard and Wynne announced the joint cabinet meeting at the Ontario Economic Summit in Niagara-on-the-Lake. Wynne said the joint meeting's agenda will focus on internal trade, as the provinces want to refresh the Ontario-Québec Trade and Co-operation Agreement that was signed in 2009.

Wynne told reporters the two provinces want to conduct a review to make sure everything is being done to remove barriers to trade.

Former premiers Dalton McGuinty and Jean Charest held three joint cabinet meetings during their times in office. However, the election of a Parti Québécois government in 2011 ended the bilateral get-togethers. This year's Liberal electoral victories in Ontario and Quebec have allowed Wynne and Couillard to resurrect the tradition.

Wynne said there will also be discussions on energy, climate change, infrastructure and francophone affairs when the two cabinets meet. "Those shared priorities are things that we can make progress on," she explained.

Canada's premiers have agreed on a statement of principles for a national energy strategy, but Wynne said there is still room to engage in discussions for just Ontario and Quebec.

"We want to add bilateral conversation on this while taking part in the national conversation on energy," agreed Couillard.

Wynne has said she's open to discussing more purchases of Quebec hydroelectric power. The reality may be a bit more expensive, though, as illustrated by a report from the Ontario Power Authority and the Independent Electricity System Operator.

In addition, both premiers are pushing to have climate change be a bigger part of the energy discussions. Their respective climate change ministers have held meetings to talk about a joint strategy to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Infrastructure will be another agenda item at the joint cabinet meeting. Funding that infrastructure has been a constant source of aggravation for Wynne and the Liberals, who want the federal government to pay more of the way.

The Liberals have committed to spending $130 billion over 10 years on transit, hospital, schools, bridges highways and other infrastructure. Wynne has asked the federal government to add to that, by requesting they give the province $12 billion a year in dedicated infrastructure funding. During a panel discussion at the economic summit, she called the dearth of funding from Ottawa, "a missing link for us."

Ontario and Quebec are also the two largest manufacturing provinces in Canada and have been trying to revitalize a sector that has been battered by restructuring in the wake of the 2009 recession. The two premiers will be traveling to China shortly on a trade junket, with one of the stated goals being to boost exports.

"It's very important for central Canada that we expand our export market," Wynne said.

Ontario-Quebec joint cabinet meeting to focus on internal trade

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