JOCK FINLAYSON
The following op/ed was first published in Business in Vancouver on Sept. 27, 2024.
BRITISH COLUMBIA – Picture a BC where we no longer harness the power of water to generate clean electricity. A BC where the backcountry is off-limits—no fishing, camping, hiking, or hunting. Imagine a BC without a forestry industry that produces some of the world’s finest lumber. And a BC where we import berries from the US and prawns from India – instead of harvesting them at home. A BC without a tourist economy that draws visitors to experience our natural wonders.
It’s not just the water, trees, and mountains that make BC special; it’s our ability to experience and benefit from them. The minerals in the ground don’t just create well paying and sustainable jobs—they helped build this province, starting with the gold rush.
BC stands at a crucial crossroads. The federal and provincial governments have introduced a myriad of complex and overlapping policies affecting the natural resource sector, including the BC Old Growth Strategy, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Health Framework, Clean BC, Marine Protected Areas, the Watershed Security Strategy, Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act, the plan to “conserve 30 percent of Canada’s land and water by 2030”, (“30 by 30”), Modernizing Land Use Plans, and Forest Landscape Planning initiatives. Taken together, these plans are cumbersome and create significant challenges to investment and job creation in British Columbia.
Consider this: many buildings in cities like Vancouver, Victoria, Kamloops, and Prince George are filled with people who either work in the resource sector or support those who do. A barista serving coffee might be serving an accountant, truck driver who provide services to a mining company. And our natural resources quite literally keep the lights on.
Moreover, the revenue generated by this “first dollar” activity contributes billions to the provincial treasury, funding health care, infrastructure, and education.
To be clear, the need for Indigenous reconciliation and environmental stewardship are widely accepted and necessary. However, British Columbia now has a growing, overlapping patchwork of heavy-handed and top-down policies. This has created regulatory complexity resulting in the loss of economic assets such as forestry and land tenures, placing future investment in jeopardy, and denying future public access to enjoy BC’s natural beauty. Government has created a system of winners and losers. In short, the uncertainty created by these policies will have consequences on the prosperity and quality of life in our province. The uncertainty will drive away future investment and will devastate communities across our province.
The potential consequences are severe: lost jobs, reduced economic activity, decimated small towns, and less tax revenue to fund vital infrastructure and social programs. And the effects won’t be confined to rural areas—urban centers like Metro Vancouver and Victoria will also feel the impacts, with fewer jobs, strained services, higher costs, and a greater reliance on imports.
So, what can be done?
First, as British Columbians, we must recognize the importance of a vibrant resource industry in our province, even as we commit strongly to Indigenous reconciliation. This includes the established world-class fishing, agriculture, hunting, forestry, and mining and energy production.
Second, we must demand that governments at all levels establish clear objectives when they undertake new land use, environmental and Indigenous reconciliation policies.
Third, governments at all levels need to review policies and programs that impact economic development and the quality of life in our province. The review must include an economic and community impact assessment of these policies, including the impact on future investment, current and future jobs and the vitality of local communities. The impact assessments must account for the economic consequences of these policies on industries, businesses, and residents. Fairness demands that there must be a plan for swift and full compensation for economic losses, and that the costs of environmental protection as well as Indigenous reconciliation should be shared by society as a whole, not unfairly imposed on businesses that have been operating lawfully.
Fourth, as a province, we must insist on proper, ongoing and meaningful consultation with all impacted parties, including Indigenous and local communities, affected industries, businesses and workers. Only by considering everyone’s interests can we achieve mutually beneficial solutions.
Finally, there needs to be a streamlined permitting process that is straightforward, timely, predictable and fair. New policies have added layers of regulatory complexity and delays, further impacting economic development.
The issues surrounding this tangled web of policy initiatives may be out of sight for most British Columbians, but their repercussions will be felt soon enough if we don’t address them. Just as a butterfly flaps its wings in Chetwynd, an emergency room could close in Coquitlam, and a single parent in Surrey loses her job at a fish plant in Steveston. BC can renew our economic prosperity in a socially responsible manner, but it requires careful planning and foresight.
Submitted by the BC resource sector coalition, which includes:
B.C. Cattlemen’s Association
B.C. Placer Miners Association
Truck Loggers Association
Council of Marine Carriers
Deep Sea Trawlers Association of B.C.
Guide Outfitters Association of B.C.
Independent Contractors and Businesses Association
Interior Logging Association
North West Loggers Association
Pacific Prawn Fishermen’s Association
Geoduck Underwater Harvesters Association
Woodlots BC
Interior Lumber Manufacturers’ Association
Source: ICBA
