Chrystia Freeland at an event last Friday, before submitting her resignation on Monday.
Chrystia Freeland's LinkedIn profile.
The BC Salmon Farmers Association (BCSFA) is deeply concerned about what it described as "the grim picture" left by Deputy Premier Freeland's resignation from the Trudeau government announced yesterday.
Yesterday, on Monday, Canada expected Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Premier and Finance Minister, to present the Federal Government's statement on the country's economic situation. However, she presented her resignation from Trudeau's Cabinet instead.
"On Friday, you told me you no longer want me to serve as your Finance Minister and offered me another position in the cabinet. Upon reflection, I have concluded that the only honest and viable path is for me to resign from the cabinet," said the hitherto Deputy Premier in a letter addressed to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and published on her social networks.
Very clear and direct in her reasons for resigning, Freeland acknowledged that, for the past number of weeks, she and Trudeau had found themselves "at odds about the best path forward for Canada." According to reports in various national and international media, tensions between the two had arisen over some government initiatives that, critical voices said, threaten to increase public spending.
Among them, some stand out, such as the exemption from federal tax on a list of items for a few weeks to help Canadians with their Christmas shopping, or the project to send a CAD 250 (EUR 166.58 / USD 175.01) check in April to millions of households in the country to support their wallets, which critics consider to be electioneering.
In her letter to Trudeau yesterday, Chrystia Freeland also remarked that the arrival of Donald Trump in the U.S. government in the coming weeks confronts Canada with what she called "a grave challenge."
"The incoming administration in the United States is pursuing a policy of aggressive economic nationalism, including a threat of 25 per cent tariffs," she wrote. "We need to take that threat extremely seriously. That means keeping our fiscal powder dry today, so we have the reserves we may need for a coming tariff war. That means eschewing costly political gimmicks, which we can ill afford and which make Canadians doubt that we recognize the gravity of the moment."
The former Finance Minister went on to assert that to oppose such U.S. economic nationalism, they must build "a true Team Canada response." Canada will win, she said, if they are strong, smart, and united.
"I know Canadians would recognize and respect such an approach. They know when we are working for them, and they equally know when we are focused on ourselves," she continued. "Inevitably, our time in government will come to an end. But how we deal with the threat our country currently faces will define us for a generation, and perhaps longer."
Freeland was thus referring to the next elections in Canada, scheduled for October 2025, which could be brought forward due not only to the fact that Trudeau's party governs in the minority but also to the decline in popularity of the Canadian Prime Minister. According to the latest polls, the Conservative Party of Canada enjoys a lead of about 20 percentage points over Trudeau's Liberals.
It is precisely against this backdrop of fiscal policy uncertainty that the BC Salmon Farmers Association has raised concerns. "The government's reckless actions exacerbate our ballooning debt and stagnant economy as Canadians face rising living costs, higher food prices, and a weakening Canadian dollar," they said in a statement issued on Monday.
The BCSFA considers the estimated CAD 9 billion (EUR 6.07 billion / USD 6.42 billion) taxpayer-funded cost of phasing out the British Columbia salmon farming sector to be another example of those "costly political gimmicks over sound economic policy" Freeland referred to.
In their view, the decision to ban current open net-pen fish farms in BC by 2029 - even despite the "clear scientific evidence" available - is driven by political motivations rather than responsible, long-term planning.
"This policy ignores the real-world consequences for thousands of workers, First Nation communities, and the broader economy," BC salmon farmers said in their statement.
British Columbia's salmon industry generates more than CAD 1.2 billion (EUR 798.9 million / USD 839.3 million) annually and directly employs more than 4,500 people. "These jobs are vital to coastal communities and many First Nations," the BCSFA continued. "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."
According to their figures, at a time when food prices are expected to rise by 3% to 5% next year, the loss of the salmon farming industry in BC would also remove 400 million healthy, Canadian-raised servings from Canadian supermarket shelves each year, something that, in their view, is not in the best interest of Canadians.
Once again, BC salmon farmers called on the Trudeau government to reconsider "this reckless course of action" and work directly with First Nations rights-holding communities to find a path that prioritizes 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," they concluded.
