With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/1501233
READ THIS The fourth installment of Sam Wiebe's Wakeland detective series might just be the most riveting. As the title implies—and as Wiebe readers will know from his previous work—Sunset and Jericho places Vancouverites in a version of their city that rings true. In the newest edition, PI Dave Wakeland is tasked with finding the mayor's missing brother while he deals with the emergence of an underground group called The Death of Kings. Oh, and class warfare has broken out on the streets of Vancouver, with Wakeland unsure which side he's on. Harbour Publishing 320 pages, softback, $24.95. £ were not properly consulted and that the decision lacked proper procedural fairness. A federal court judge agreed. In a ruling dated April 22, 2022, Justice Elizabeth Heneghan sided with the fish farmers and overturned the decision. It was a brief reprieve for the Discovery Islands fish farms, which have been a flashpoint in the fish farming debate for years. In 2012, Justice Bruce Cohen, who led an inquiry into the decline of Fraser River sockeye salmon, noted the importance of these islands for migrating wild salmon smolts and the threat of sea lice and disease from fish farms. Following Justice Heneghan's ruling, the DFO, now led by Van- couver Quadra MP Joyce Murray, was sent back to the drawing board. An internal report on sea lice from DFO's Canadian Scientific Advisory Secretariat, commissioned last summer, was meant to help guide Murray's decision on the fate of the 15 fish farms in the Discovery Islands. Released in late January 2023, the report was met with applause from the industry and widespread criticism from scientists and environmental groups. A group of 16 indepen- dent fisheries scientists sent a letter to the federal government, saying that the report, which was produced by staff from DFO's fish farming regulation and science branch, down- played the impact of sea lice and fell below the threshold of ac- ceptable peer-reviewed science. Conversely, the fish farming in- dustry hailed it as proof positive that their operations had mini- mal impact on wild salmon. On February 17, 2023, Mur- ray announced that the federal government would not renew licences for the 15 open net-pen Atlantic salmon farms around the Discovery Islands. "The state of wild Pacific salmon is dire, and we must do what we can to ensure their survival," she said in a news release. "This was a dif- ficult but necessary decision." Murray said that uncertain- ty about the risks posed by fish farms to wild salmon demand- ed an "advanced precautionary approach," and also called the fish farm closures an impor- tant step toward "developing a responsible plan to transition away from open-net farming in coastal B.C. waters." The salmon farming in- dustry is again up in arms. On March 21, Mowi, Grieg Seafood and Cermaq applied to Cana- da's federal court for a judicial review of Murray's decision. Stan Proboszcz, senior scientist with the Vancouver- based Watershed Watch Salm- on Society, is not surprised that the fish farmers are back in court but says that Murray's decision is the right one. "There is an incredibly large body of independent scientific research demonstrating the link between fish farms and sea lice on wild salmon. Scientists from SFU, University of Toronto and the Pacific Salmon Founda- tion have published on this top- ic for years," Proboszcz says. He notes that the paper trail is stacked with letters dating back to June 2022 from the minister to all the companies, "giving them a heads-up, with detailed reasons of what she was considering, along with an open ear to their thoughts. They had months to convince her, and they failed to do so." In a parallel legal action, the We Wai Kai Nation of Cape Mudge on Quadra Island and Campbell River's Wei Wai Kum First Nation are also asking the courts to overturn the decision. In an open letter to his commu- nity, We Wai Kai Nation Chief Councillor Ronnie Chickite said the court action is not an en- dorsement of fish farming but "is about our right as titlehold- ers to make decisions about how our territory is used." The legal battles "will prob- ably continue until the federal government starts properly using science in their decisions as opposed to following that of campaigners trying to incorrectly scapegoat the sector for the decline of wild salmon," says Brian Kingzett, executive director of the BC Salmon Farmers Association. "The minister is on danger- ous ground with respect to First Nations rights and title," Kingzett adds. £ ( the informer ) G O F I G U R E GO FIGURE: ISTOCK 18 BCBUSINESS.CA JULY/AUGUST 2023 Kindred Spirits It's high season for happy hour as the weather warms and patios open up across the province—so pick your mixer, because this round (up) is on us By Melissa Edwards SPIRITS MANUFACTURERS IN B.C.: 127 The number of craft distilleries in B.C. grew by more than 1000% between 2010 and 2021 23% OF NATIONAL TOTAL 2ND HIGHEST SHARE IN CANADA B.C. craft distilleries are required to source 100% of their agricultural ingredients from within the province B.C. liquor retailers in 2012: 1,407 In 2022: 1,897 34.8% SALES OF SPIRITS IN B.C. LIQUOR AUTHORITIES AND RETAIL STORES (2022): DOMESTIC $406,884,000 10.7% from 2017 IMPORTED $637,564,000 37.2% from 2017 At its peak of on-premise market share in 2020, White Claw—created by B.C. booze titan Anthony Von Mandl—held 60.4% of hard seltzer sold in U.S. bars and restaurants TOTAL SALES OF WHITE CLAW IN 2021: US$1.93 billion 47 LOWER MAINLAND 32 ISLAND & SUNSHINE COAST 43 INTERIOR 5 NORTHERN B.C.