Red tape costs hundreds of jobs
In British Columbia, salmon farmers are awaiting final decisions on new site applications that have been submitted with strong support of the local First Nations, and nobody can figure out why the opportunity to create tens of million dollars of investments by a well-regulated industry is being held back.
In Nova Scotia, a change in government has put the creation of over 300 new jobs by Cooke Aquaculture on hold. In 2012, when the province was governed by the New Democratic Party (NDP), Cooke made plans to build a new hatchery in Digby County to supply smolts for new salmon farms that in turn would justify the building of a new farmed salmon processing plant in Shelburne. Its fish feed mill in Truro would also be expanded. To support these expansion plans, the NDP agreed to lend Cooke some CAD$ 25 million (~€ 17.6 million), of which $ 9 million (~€ 6.4 million) would be repaid once the facilities had been built and people hired - all of which was to be in place in 2015.
Then came the provincial election in 2013, when the NDP was all but obliterated - gaining only 7 seats in the legislature, with the Nova Scotia Liberal Party (NSLP) taking 33 of the 51 seats. As a result of public pressure, the government set up an independent review panel to provide a report on the often controversial salmon farming industry, which was released earlier this month. In the meantime, new site applications were put on hold, and Cooke’s expansion plans were frozen. Company spokesperson Nell Halse said that a farming capacity for some 3 million fish would have to be secured in order to justify the investments.
Regarding the financial arrangements between Cooke and the provincial government, Greg Bennett of The Shelburne County Coast Guard provided the following details in a posting today, saying that Cooke Aquaculture must pay back the $9-million provincial loan, with interest;
Cooke Aquaculture is waiting on new fish farming regulations from the provincial government before continuing with their expansion plans in Nova Scotia. A planned processing plant in Shelburne is on hold until at least 2018. Cooke Aquaculture will lose a $9-million forgivable loan from the provincial government by not completing its Nova Scotia expansion in 2015. Provincial officials say the forgivable part of the Cooke Aquaculture $25-million loan applied only if the company completed its expansion by the end of next year. “The forgiveness of the loan to Cooke Aquaculture depends on the company’s ability to meet certain targets by the end of 2015, including 400 new FTEs and four new projects – farm operations in Shelburne and Digby, a new salmon hatchery in Digby, expanding a feed mill in Truro, establishing a fish processing facility in Shelburne,” wrote Economic and Rural Development and Tourism spokesperson Sarah Levy-MacLeod in an email to the Coast Guard. “We expect the company to fulfill the terms and conditions in the original agreement.”
The company has already accessed $18-million through the Nova Scotia Jobs Fund so far. That money will have to be paid back with interest, said Levy-MacLeod. The expansion was originally announced in June 2012 by the then Dexter NDP government. Cooke Aquaculture officials say the company’s intent is to still move forward, only on a different timeline. Before the company builds new facilities, it says it needs more fish farm sites to justify further construction. (The New) Brunswick-based company recently informed the Town of Shelburne that its Nova Scotia expansion plans are stalled, including the construction of a multi-million dollar fish processing facility that would employ more than 300 people in the Shelburne area.
Shelburne Mayor Karen Mattatall said company officials informed her last week that the earliest a processing plant would be completed in Shelburne was by 2018.
