As Parliament is set to resume, Western Canadian business leaders are urging MPs to scrap harmful policies and back salmon farming as part of a resource-driven economic reset
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
A coalition of Western Canadian business leaders has issued an urgent appeal to all Members of Parliament to focus on restoring the nation as an attractive place to base and build businesses, reinforcing similar calls made by British Columbia’s salmon farmers.
In an open letter as Parliament is set to resume, the Western Business Coalition (WBC) warns that policy uncertainty and burdensome regulation are pushing investment and opportunity away from Canada, jeopardizing jobs, productivity, and living standards across the country.
Comprised of the Business Councils of British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba, along with the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, the Coalition stated the development of Canada’s natural resource sector is being constrained by harmful policies despite it being a major contributor to exports, investment, jobs, and living standards.
It is urging Parliament to act swiftly and abandon the proposed oil and gas emissions cap, improve tax competitiveness and streamline regulatory processes.
“On a per-capita basis, the country has been in a recession for over two years. To reverse this trend, we must adopt policies that attract investment and support rising living standards for Canadians,” said Laura Jones, President and CEO of the Business Council of B.C. (BCBC)
Members of the Coalition will be in Ottawa next week to deliver this message directly to the federal government as the new Parliament begins.
In the context of B.C.’s aquaculture industry, the coalition’s warning dovetails with the growing backlash against the federal plan to phase out ocean-based salmon farming—an export-generating, Indigenous-supported sector, that is being sacrificed to ideological policymaking.
The coalition views this and similar actions as emblematic of a broader failure to leverage Canada’s natural resource strengths.
It argues that salmon farming represents a strategic opportunity for Canada to both grow exports and reduce global emissions by offering lower-emission food production alternatives to global markets.
“We continue to call on the new government to reverse the proposed federal ban on marine net-pen salmon farming in British Columbia and to amend the Fisheries Act to allow for aquaculture licenses longer than nine years,” said Jairo Yunis, Director of Policy at BCBC.
For years, the previous government under Justin Trudeau sided with the anti-fish farming lobby, enforcing activist-driven policies to erode confidence in Canada’s regulatory credibility in British Columbia’s aquaculture sector.
The Trudeau-era Liberals also dismissed scientific findings from government fisheries experts, which concluded that marine salmon farms in B.C. pose less than a one-percent risk to migrating wild stocks.
As a result, B.C. faces the loss of 4,560 jobs, including over 1,000 held by Indigenous workers, while taxpayers could be on the hook for an estimated $9 billion in compensation to salmon farmers, suppliers, and First Nations.
While WBC’s latest letter does not single out salmon farming, Yunis said the issue exemplifies the very policy failures the coalition is urging Parliament to correct, as outlined in its March report – “Untapped Potential – Driving Canadian Prosperity Through Natural Resources”.
In the report, the coalition outlines five key actions to support the long-term growth of the Canada’s aquaculture industry, including:
- Reversing the proposed federal ban on marine net-pen salmon farming in B.C., while supporting industry-led innovations to reduce interactions with wild salmon.
- Amending the Fisheries Act to allow aquaculture licenses longer than nine years. Short-term licenses discourage investment and innovation, as they are often shorter than asset payback periods. Licenses should be issued for the maximum term and remain valid if regulatory conditions are met.
- Introducing developmental (R&D) licenses, modeled after Norway, to test new technologies over multiple production cycles. These should be valid for up to 15 years and convertible to standard licenses at a fixed price if successful.
- Supporting Indigenous leadership through the First Nations for Finfish Stewardship proposal, including the creation of an Indigenous Aquaculture Governance Table (IAGT) and the Indigenous Centre for Aquatic Health Sciences (ICAHS).
- Increasing federal funding for west coast marine infrastructure to match investments made on the east coast and ensure equitable support for harbour development.
According to the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA), with supportive legislation and policies, its members could generate $2.5 billion in economic output, contribute $930 million to GDP, and create 9,000 jobs with $560 million in wages by 2030 – all while advancing innovation and responsible practices to safeguard wild salmon stocks.
(Main Images – Facebook File Image of the Canadian Parliament Building)