Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has resigned from cabinet with a stark warning to her boss to end “costly political gimmicks”— one of them is the decision to curtail salmon farming in British Columbia that comes with a $9 billion hit to Canadian taxpayers.
By Fabian Dawson
SeaWestNews
As Canadians face skyrocketing living costs, a crumbling dollar, and mounting debt, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s sudden departure from her cabinet role came with a pointed warning for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: Stop the “costly political gimmicks.”
Nowhere does this warning hit harder than in British Columbia’s coastal communities – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – where salmon farming has been a pillar of economic and cultural stability for decades.
A glaring and reckless example of Trudeau’s “gimmicks” is the decision to ban marine net-pen salmon farming in B.C. by 2029 – a move driven not by science, but by the desperate chase for votes from anti-fish farming activists in urban Liberal strongholds.
This politically motivated ban threatens to erase B.C.’s top agri-food export, wiping out 4,560 jobs, gutting over $437 million from 1,400 local vendors in the aquaculture supply chain, and jeopardizing the livelihoods of over 1,000 Indigenous workers directly and indirectly employed by the sector.
And the costs don’t stop there. Canadian taxpayers now face a $9 billion bill to compensate salmon farmers, suppliers, and First Nations, adding yet another layer of red ink to Canada’s already dire fiscal outlook, which was laid out in today’s Fall Economic Statement.
In announcing the plan to ban marine net-pen salmon farms in B.C., the Trudeau Liberals have ignored their own scientists, who found in 10 peer-reviewed government studies conducted by the Canadian Science Advisory Secretariat (CSAS), that the ocean farms had only a minimal impact on wild fish.
More recently, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) stated it has no global data showing wild salmon populations rebounding after marine-based salmon farm closures, debunking activist claims that removing farms increases wild salmon numbers.
The decision to ban current marine net-pen salmon farming in British Columbia by 2029 is driven by political motivations rather than long-term, responsible planning, said the B.C. Salmon Farmers Association.
The estimated $9 billion taxpayer-funded cost of phasing out the B.C. salmon farming sector is another example of the Trudeau Liberals opting for costly political gimmicks over sound economic policy, said the association, echoing Freeland’s departure warning to Trudeau.
“The BC salmon farming sector generates over $1.2 billion annually and directly employs over 4,500 people. These jobs are vital to coastal communities and many First Nations. Yet the government is pushing forward with policies that could destroy this sector, risking thousands of jobs and removing a crucial source of healthy, affordable food from Canadian tables.
“The loss of the salmon farming sector in BC would also remove 400 million healthy, Canadian raised fish portions off Canadian grocery shelves each year. With food prices expected to rise by 3- 5% in the coming year, removing this vital food source is not in the best interest of Canadians.”
The BCSFA said it is deeply concerned about the grim picture painted by the resignation of Freeland and is calling on the Trudeau government to work directly with Rightsholder First Nation communities on a Transition Plan that will prioritize job creation, economic growth, and long-term sustainability.
“It’s time for the government to listen to workers and communities dependent on this sector and their own public service rather than bowing to political pressure from anti-salmon farming activist groups,” the association said in a statement.
The Coalition of First Nations for Finfish Stewardship (FNFFS) stated the $9 billion cost to phase out B.C.’s salmon farms does not include the immeasurable impact on remote Indigenous communities, where salmon farming once broke cycles of despair and suicide.
“Salmon farming isn’t just about jobs in my nation, it is also the backbone of First Nations communities up and down the coast of British Columbia…This ban will sink us,” said Isaiah Robinson, Deputy Chief Councillor of the Kitasoo Xai’xais Nation, which has been farming salmon since the 1980s.
“Without salmon farming, our coastal communities will face generational trauma. Parents will lose their jobs. The youth will leave their territories because there are no opportunities to stay. Families will lose their pride and hope for their future,” he said.
“How can we put a price tag on suicides, addictions, overdoses, domestic violence and an increased strain on our already overwhelmed rural health care system?”
The BCSFA and FNFFS are urging the Trudeau government to adopt their no-cost-to-taxpayers alternative to the current transition plan—one that achieves the same goals without devastating impacts on the sector, First Nations’ rights, and B.C.’s coastal communities.
File image shows Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with his Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who resigned from her cabinet role today.